Binita

At age 16, dreams of the future filled the mind of young Binita.

Binita had just finished 10th grade. Sun shining and smile beaming, Binita swung on the swing outside her home, daydreaming…until she heard familiar voices inside her home. Curious, she crept up to the house, peered in, and saw a familiar family friend, and she began to listen. 

Her mother and uncle were discussing the tough times that had fallen upon their family after Binita’s father had abandoned them. With an older sister who had disappeared and two younger siblings still at home, Binita knew much of the responsibility would fall on her shoulders. 

After a few minutes, she heard her mother call her name, asking Binita to join them and meet the “Auntie” who was distantly related to her. Sighing with relief that she hadn’t been caught eavesdropping, Binita obediently came inside. She was told she had the opportunity to join a few girls traveling to another city to work in a factory.

The thought of leaving her hometown and moving sounded intriguing and possibly even glamorous. And knowing she was needed to support her family made the decision easy. Binita agreed to go. Not long after, her auntie took her to the train station and handed Binita over to a “family” who would be traveling with her. She felt somewhat uneasy with them, yet when they offered Binita some food to eat, she graciously accepted, not realizing she was being drugged. Within minutes, everything went dark.

Binita woke up coughing, finding herself in a strange room filled with smoke and loud music and surrounded by men. Confused, she began asking where she was but was met with answers in a language that sounded different from her own. She was told she would receive instructions soon.

The room was so loud and smokey that she struggled to take it all in. But she was at the wrong place, that much she knew. This wasn't a factory and it couldn't be the place she would be staying while she worked. A woman later grabbed her and told her she had been sold because her family needed the money. Horrified, Binita protested and said she had come to work in a factory. The woman glared at her and broke that illusion, saying,

“Child, you ARE working in a factory - simply one that meets the needs of lusting men.”

Refusing to do the work, Binita was deprived of food and water and kept locked in a dark, dingy room just big enough to sleep and stand. The brothel owner was “breaking her,” but Binita was adamant that she was not going to do what they asked. Furious, the brothel owner did the unthinkable, bringing in a group of traffickers and pimps, telling them to drug her and rape her until she submitted.

Ashamed, angry, broken, distraught, and humiliated, Binita wondered if this, too, was where her older sister had ended up because her family needed money. She couldn't tell how long she was starved in that room, and her only reference to time was when the men came back to "teach her." Binitia knew she would die if she didn't give in, and so she did.

She had her first customer the next morning.

For years, Binita worked in the red-light district until one day, the police suddenly raided the brothel. Caught up in a fury of events, Binita was taken to a government home and then sent back to her home.

Her return to her village was far from a homecoming reunion as she quickly realized there was no place for her in her village. Her family was ostracized when it was discovered she was one of the “girls” who worked in the sex industry. Feeling alone and left with nowhere else to go, Binita returned to the red-light district, telling herself, “This was my fate, so I must do it.”

After living in the red-light district for a few months, she met a young man who befriended her, and they fell in love. He worked hard and, over the course of a few months, paid off her debt and married her. Soon after, she became pregnant and had a beautiful baby boy. But then the Covid-19 pandemic hit their family hard.

Thankfully, it was during a Project Rescue relief outreach that she met the Project Rescue team and shared her story. Now working with Project Rescue and experiencing firsthand that “fate” can be changed, Binita helps other women like herself rewrite their destinies.