Aug 31, 2020

Hope's Harvest: An Unlikely Love Story

Watch this short video to LEARN how the Freedom Firm team rescues girls in brothels.

READ Pooja's Love Story Here

Pooja, from Jahrkand was only 15 when she trusted a stranger who offered her a job in a big city. He trafficked her 1000 miles and sold her to a brothel in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh. The Awareness Blog last month explained how girls are trafficked into brothels. Growing up with alcoholic parents, constantly fighting with her sister, and experiencing extreme hunger, Pooja was easy prey. Desperate to escape her broken home, she had no idea she was heading for a brothel.

Rescue #1

Freedom Firm rescued Pooja two years later. The brothel keeper had brainwashed her, making it difficult for her to trust Freedom Firm staff. When the brothel keeper came to the government shelter home and produced fake papers claiming to be her mother, Pooja did not resist. The brothel keeper took Pooja away, and Freedom Firm investigators couldn't find her. A few months later, social workers visited Pooja's parents to try and find some clues to her whereabouts. Pooja's parents told them amazing news.

Rescue #2

Although the brothel keeper took her back to the brothel after her first rescue, Pooja didn't stay there long. A customer named Sanu rescued her the second time. While frequenting the brothel, Sanu fell in love with Pooja and asked her to run away with him. Pooja agreed and escaped. Sanu kept his word and took her to meet his parents first. With their permission and blessing, Sanu and Pooja married.

Pooja is just 17 years old now. Living in a joint family provides the support she desperately needs. Her new in-laws have embraced her with patience and love, teaching her how to cook and clean.

Right now she is developing even more new skills! After Sanu lost his job, a social worker invited Pooja to Freedom Firm's three month jewelry-making training. Although COVID-19 interrupted the program, Pooja is already using her new skills to recycle waste materials from home and transform them into popular products. Pooja sells the crafts in her village for a profit margin of 7 dollars for each one!

Pooja says, “I feel blessed all the time. I am loved; I am cherished.” Once trapped in a brothel, Pooja now has a safe home with a loving husband and family. Once the victim of lies and manipulation, she now experiences genuine love. After years of brainwashing, she now thinks, creates and designs on her own. She thanks God for bringing her from a place of scarcity to a place of abundance, from hunger to a bountiful harvest.