In April 2017 I will be one of a group of 6 young adults from Bangor, N. Ireland, will be flying to Mumbai, India, to assist Tearfund and their partner charities in the rehabilitation of victims of human trafficking and children born in the red light district of Mumbai.

Any donations, no matter how small, will help to get us there and allow us to volunteer with activities such as drop in centres for women and children and rescue homes for girls.

One partner we will be working closely with is Sahaara. They run drop-in centres in Turbhe and Bhiwandi ‘red light’ areas, catering to trafficked women or women in prostitution. They build relationships with them, providing medical care and health awareness training as well as vocational guidance and training.

The staff also provide counselling to the women; helping them with their trauma - the drop-in centre is a place where women can come to receive emotional support and feel safe. The women receive spiritual counselling and prayer support. In the event that the women want to leave sex work, the drop-in centre acts as the first safe referral stop before they move out of the area to a safer location.