‘The abuse ends with me’
Pushana gently brushes soft kisses across her daughter’s brown cheek. Her toddler turns and gazes up at her. She reaches out her tiny hand, which her mother covers with another kiss. I first met Pushana four years ago in the Banchara community of India. She was still...
Love your neighbor: the girl enslaved
Every little girl dreams about what she’ll be when she grows up. A teacher. A veterinarian. Maybe even a princess in a glittering castle. But Nadia’s future was planned since birth. She was destined to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a sex worker — at the...
Love your neighbor: the abused woman
She tries her best to cover her bruises with makeup. She attempts a new hairstyle to cover the spots where clumps of her hair have been ripped out. She’ll just have to make up a lie about the black eye she’s sporting. She might go to church with you … sit beside you...
On the ground in India: ‘Daughter for sale’
Here in the United States, if you saw furniture sitting beside the road, you’d probably assume it was trash or free to anyone willing to come pick it up. In the Banchara community of India, though, furniture sits along the streets for a different reason. A bed beside...
On the ground in India: Nisha’s one of the lucky ones
Nisha isn’t one of those kids who hates school. In fact, she loves it! Whenever she visits her friends, she’s always offering to help them with their lessons and encouraging them that getting a good education is the key to reaching their dreams. That’s because Nisha...
Every day, I try to live my life in such a way that I accomplish at least one thing that will outlive me and last for eternity.