Vinita has entered our Udaan foster home and a new future opens up for her and her daughter

When Vinita was 17 years old, her father took her to a hostel run by an organization in Kamathipura, Mumbai’s Red Light Area, and abandoned her there. Vinita did not understand anything, she thought that he or her mother would go after her, but it was not like that. Finally, her grandmother took care of her. Vinita thought she could clarify what had happened, but she didn’t, all her grandmother did was marry her off to an older man from Gujarat.

Her youth and her desire to live a good life made her think that perhaps the time had come to know love and be happy. But nothing could be further from the truth, her husband did not treat her well, and when her first daughter arrived a year later, she did not change anything either. One day she fed up and desperate she went to Mumbai where she had a friend.

She shared a room with her, took care of the housework, and also her daughter, but she was not self-sufficient and could not balance taking care of her daughter with working. So with all the pain of her heart she left her daughter with her husband. Her goal was clearly to find work to earn money and get her daughter back and have a life worthy of her. But after a while working for a bank selling debit cards, she got sick. She had to quit her job and her friend forced her to work at the bar where she worked as a dancer. Vinita did not want to and she went to ask for help at the hostel where years before her father abandoned her. Her coordinator explained that her father had abandoned her and that her mother, who had already died, was being sexually exploited.

Udaan: a new hope

It was the coordinator who put Vinita in contact with Mumbai Smiles and we began the procedures for Vinita to enter Udaan and for her daughter to be transferred to her hostel, with the aim of being able to reunite them in a few months. Now she has to take care of both of them, especially Vinita’s health, and focus on her recovery. We hope to tell you good news soon.

#breakwithtrafficking

Fotografía: Fernán Archilla