Part 2: Need and nuance — Peel’s human trafficking survivor supports fall woefully short of the need

“I couldn’t do anything. They were crying, holding my hands.”

Rita Dhungel’s tale of a helpless struggle inside an Indian brothel captivated attendees at the Global Conference on Human Trafficking and Trauma last week, encapsulating the emotions that many in the field face at one time or another. 

Dhungel, now a community social worker with the City of Calgary, met with the women in the Indian brothel in 2004. She spoke in Hindi, and they told her they were happy, safe, and lucky to be able to make money to provide for their families. But when Dhungel switched to her native Nepalese tongue, a language the brothel owners were unable to understand, the women immediately changed their tone. They were terrified, pleading for help. 

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Sex trafficking flourishes amid public apathy and a lack of supports to help women who escape find healing and a permanent path out of poverty and exploitation. There are solutions out there — and people passionately prepared to do the hard work — but they’ll need money and political commitment.

Published on July 4, 2019 in The Pointer - Brampton