Kasturi Works Hard and Dreams Big

Kasturi after her resuce

When Kasturi was only six years old, her father died, and her mother left Kasturi and her two siblings to be raised by their grandmother. They lived in a small apartment in a poor neighborhood in Maharashtra. Kasturi’s grandmother was kind and generous and showered her with gifts. As a child, Kasturi enjoyed baking and playing with her puppy. She grew close to her grandmother but continued to long for her mother.

To keep her happy, Kasturi’s grandmother gave Kasturi everything she asked for. With no parents to give her boundaries, Kasturi was an easy target. In 9th grade, Kasturi met and fell in love with a boy. She kept the relationship a secret from her grandmother, and the relationship quickly became physically intimate. 

Little did Kasturi know, but her boyfriend’s mother was a pimp. He lured girls to his home, and then he and his mother forced them into prostitution. This is how Kasturi became trapped in prostitution. 

In June 2023, Freedom Firm rescued Kasturi from a brothel in Nagpur. She was placed in a shelter home where she began to heal.

Kasturi continued her studies in the shelter home and is now in 12th grade. She loves learning new things, cooking, and spending time with a close friend. Kasturi is fond of her grandmother who regularly visits her in the shelter home. Kasturi says she regrets the choices she made in the past, but she is grateful for the life she has today. She is working hard to chase her dreams.

She is strong, intelligent, and determined to make a new life.

Kasturi (left) and a social worker during a follow-up visit 

Kasturi is eager to pursue a degree in nursing and achieve the stability of owning a house and a car. Kasturi said that she feels that she can “never trust anyone because trust is always broken by trustworthy people; that's why I believe in myself.” Kasturi still needs to grow, heal, and trust, as she feels betrayed by those who should have been trustworthy. But she is strong, intelligent, and determined to make a new life. 

Our social workers continue to walk alongside Kasturi as she heals and empower her to make healthy choices that will strengthen her future.

When you join hands with Freedom Firm, you not only help to bring freedom to a young girl like Kasturi, you also help her take each step as she finds her way back into light and life.  

Will you donate today at freedomfirm.org? Together, we can bring each girl back into the light of day and set her free to live.

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