Inspired to fight slavery

Varanasi, India

I graduated from Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco, California last June. I was accepted to Princeton University, but I am currently taking a gap year through Princeton's Bridge Year Program.

I am living in India for 9 months and working full-time at an NGO in Varanasi called Guria that fights human trafficking and forced prostitution in Northern India.

Although the San Francisco Bay Area is considered a human trafficking hotspot for the U.S., practically no one in my high school was aware of the issue at all. Our school has clubs and groups dedicated to fighting all sorts of social ills, but it seemed that nowhere was the term human trafficking ever mentioned.

Some friends of mine and I learned about human trafficking randomly, during research for a school project. We were shocked and appalled by the sheer size and organized, systematic nature of the issue. So, we decided to take action. We worked for weeks and created a day-long art and information exhibit at our high school that was designed to simultaneously evoke emotion and spread awareness. Each of our art pieces was focused on a certain aspect of human trafficking and was accompanied by our specific research findings for that aspect. It was an enormous success! Nearly the entire school attended our exhibit, and the community was buzzing for weeks after about it.

Because of this experience in my community, not only was I inspired to continue fighting this issue, but I also became aware of the fact that there is so much I don't know about it. Human trafficking is a complex, deeply entrenched problem, and I knew I needed to step back and learn more so that I could approach the issue in a more informed way.

Princeton connected me to a small grassroots NGO called Guria. I am so lucky to have this chance to work for an organization on the rise. He doesn't like to brag, but our founder Ajeet Singh has been widely recognized in the media for his innovative initiatives and has received many awards, most notably The Week India's “Man of the Year 2011” and the CNN-IBN's “2011 Real Heroes Award” in India.

Recently, Guria has been making bigger waves in the international community. This September, Ajeet was invited to be the sole speaker at the launch of The Freedom Fund in New York City and we recently released a bold report documenting 100 cases of severe police negligence in sex trafficking, rape, and child prostitution cases. Our work has gained the attention of many high-up officials in the Indian government. The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh even ordered a special inquiry on the report.

The Guria team also succeeded in Varanasi in creating India's first child-prostitution-free red light area!

Hopefully my year in India is just the beginning! I want to not only make a difference during my time here, but also make connections and learn skills that can contribute to a lifetime of service. Personally, I would love to connect to people around the globe fighting human trafficking and become part of the awareness movement. There is strength in numbers, but more strength comes from connections amongst those numbers.