BONDED CHILD LABOUR-FREE: Guddi

The Freedom Fund is engaging in a comprehensive intervention in the Indian states

of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, helping 22 partners in 27 districts to combat all kinds
of bonded labor and trafficking. Bonded labor is particularly prevalent in
agriculture, brick kilns and stone quarries, the commercial sex industry, and
domestic work in this area.
MSEMVS, a Freedom Fund partner, has put a strong emphasis on ending bonded
child labor. MSEMVS assists people in forming Community Vigilance
Committees, which are groups of emancipated bonded laborer’s who exercise
collective power to achieve
independence. Residents are
taught how to spot human
trafficking and call for help,
how to track worker
migration and avoid risky
migration, and how to assert
their legal rights and
government benefits.
Guddi, twelve, and her four
sisters used to labor in a
brick kiln with their parents. Despite the fact that they all worked long days, the
brick kiln owner did not pay them enough. When they begged for a raise in pay,
the owner began abusing them physically.
An MSEMVS staff member visited their village one day and described the
project's work. Guddi’s father became a member of the MSEMVS Community
Vigilance Committee as a consequence, and they are working together to improve
the kiln. Guddi was enrolled at MSEMVS' transitional school for out-of-school
youth by her family.
Guddi has grown to appreciate the value of education and is now assisting her
classmates. They also learn about dangerous migration, human trafficking, and
debt slavery. Guddi is enthusiastic about what she's learning and has become a
member of the children's forum, which meets with village leaders to discuss ways
to improve the area's conditions.
The Northern India hotspot of the Freedom Fund aims to minimize human
trafficking, bonded labor, and hazardous child labor in two of India's poorest states.
We work with frontline organizations to assist communities establish resistance to
human trafficking and slavery, as well as rehabilitate people who have been
exploited.