*Preeti's story. A first-person narrative.
My father left my mother when I was a young child. My mother worked as a maid in a house and received very little money. Most of the time, we had no food to eat. I didn’t like that. I had a girlfriend who used to sleep with men to make money. I asked her several times to take me where she worked but she refused. I begged her to bring me along because my family situation was bad and I was willing to do what she did.
Finally, she took me to a lady’s home where I started attending to customers. I did this for 4 years and one day, there was a raid. The police came and caught me and 2 other girls. I was angry because I didn’t want to be rescued. I liked doing that work. From the police station, I was sent to a short-stay home.
I work at Ruhamah Designs making jewelry now and I realize that what I was doing before was not good for me. I wish I had this job when my family was going through a rough patch. I would not have had to do what I did.