Released from bondage

Since I have come to IJM, I have been richly blessed to be a part of three separate rescue operations. The operations to release families living in slavery are conducted in tandem with goverment officials and police, who enter the paticular facility (rock quarry, brick kiln or rice mill) with select IJM staff. The victims of forced labor are briefly "enquired" inside the faciilty by the head government officer. Then we help them pack their simple belongings into large trucks. We travel to the government office where the official "enquiry" is conducted to determine if they are being held there in violation of the Indian law which prohibits forced labor. (Essentially, someone is considered a forced laborer if she/he is: providing labor in exchange for a one-time monetary loan, paid below minimum wage, prohibted from moving freely, or not permitted to sell their own goods freely.)

At the government office, my role has been to photograph the laborers as they are documented by our aftercare staff and as they take turns going in to answer questions with the government officials. Since I do not speak the language, my responsiblities are limited. But even using a laminating machine hardly feels mundane -- as the piece of paper bound between the plastic sheets is a Release Certificate, cancelling all debts and literally declaring that particular individual free.

More importantly than my own involvement, since I arrived in January 2009, 154 Release Certificates have been issued in IJM cases. 43 families have been released from faciilties where they were working illegally as laves. All of these families are part of IJM's aftercare program, designed to support them as they reintegrate into a society which is strictly delineated by caste and plagued by poverty. One IJM aftercare manager is assigned to each family. The IJM staff visits the family's home monthly, conducts group meetings by region and connects these "clients" with longterm resources to ensure a sustainable life in freedom.

To read about our most recent rescue operation, check out IJM's website and read this story I wrote!