Karuna

Karuna was raised by two alcoholic parents and had six siblings. Because her parents were often intoxicated, she shouldered the burden of keeping her siblings alive. She remembers frequent days where there wasn’t food to eat - she would put her siblings to bed with a cup of water.

One day, Karuna shared her hopelessness with a neighbor she called “Auntie.” Auntie invited her to a wedding to cheer her up and bought her new clothes to wear. On the way to the wedding, Karuna was drugged and taken to India.

For six months, Karuna endured agony beyond words. She was subjected to 8-10 men daily, force-fed drugs, beaten, and burned with cigarettes. She wanted to end her life, but she was never left alone long enough to succeed. Finally, she saw her chance to escape and fled on foot to the border where she was discovered by staff members from our partner in Nepal. The staff listened to her story and provided her with hope. They gave her legal counsel and she testified against three of her traffickers, who were convicted and sent to prison.

Karuna went to our partners’ Safe Home and began her healing journey. After many months of treatment, Karuna continued her journey at the Training Center. She started having visions of joining the fight against Human-Trafficking. She joined staff as Border Counselor while simultaneously studying for her Sociology degree.

“I feel proud because now my sisters can look up to me and know that we are powerful. They can know that our stories do not make us weak, but rather strong. And that we have the power to change this nation with our stories!” “As I pursued my education while living with my fellow sisters, I began to uncover God’s plans for me. I realized that my vision and mission in life now is to dedicate myself to become an advocate for my sisters.”