Leading role

TWO years ago she was a girl who had been rescued from a brothel in Delhi8217;s GB Road. Today, she is a confident teenager who leads opera...

TWO years ago she was a girl who had been rescued from a brothel in Delhi8217;s GB Road. Today, she is a confident teenager who leads operations to rescue minors and has visited Sweden, Germany, Bangladesh as a representative of the 8216;survivors8217;. 8216;8216;I am not afraid any more, 8217;8217; she says.

Short cropped hair, a white pullover and jeans, the athletic youngster could be your average college girl. She has just returned from the Paharganj wholesale market with the multi-coloured yarn for making accessories. As in charge of the accessory production unit, Anisa name changed, has selected yarns in her favourite colours8212;shades of mauve, light orange, blue. 8216;8216;I like light colours. Two years ago, I was not interested in anything. I only wanted revenge. Now I want to do so many things,8217;8217; she says in halting English.

Anisa was brought to Delhi from her village in Nepal by her aunt and uncle when she was only nine. Her journey followed a familiar path. Her aunt sold her to a brothel where she lived for the next three years. 8216;8216;It was as if I had become stone,8217;8217; she says of those years.

SHE is a different girl today. Anisa is a caregiver to children at the home run by STOP Stop Trafficking, Oppression and Prostitution of Children and Women8212;-the Delhi-based NGO which rescues and rehabilitates minors. She too was rehabilitated by STOP. The organisation is involved in combating trafficking and rehabilitation. It was one of the NGOs deputed by the Delhi High Court to carry out the rehabilitation and repatriation of rescued girls and minors to their home states.

Says Neha Madan, a graduate of NIFT and a designer who is training these girls in making accessories8212;8216;8216;Anisa has potential. She is quick to pick up things and has an eye for detail.8217;8217; The unit produces crochet bags, wristbands and block printed material.

8216;8216;There was a time when I was very afraid8212;of everyone getting to know, of my parents being ostracised by the villagers. But not so any more,8217;8217; says Anisa. She is trained in self-defence. She took part in the month long self-defence training programme conducted by the Delhi Police. Action star Jackie Chan is her 8216;favourite hero.8217;

More recently she rescued a 12-year-old Nepali girl from Seemapuri in Delhi. The girl was about to be sent to the middle-east. 8216;8216;It8217;s not just about bringing them away, one has to counsel the girls. They are never willing to step out.8217;8217; The 8216;madams8217;, she says, always scare the girls with horror stories of how they would be ostracised by society. 8216;8216;You have to look at every girl and assess how she should be counselled so that she is willing to come away with you.8217;8217; Initially, Anisa says, she was set on taking revenge against her aunt and uncle, but gradually she realised that turning them in would be better. 8216;8216; I was being barraged by questions by 5-6 lawyers in the court and was nearly reduced to tears. Yet I held my ground.8217;8217; She has deposed against her aunt and is confident that she will be convicted for trafficking. The High Court has turned down the trial court order, directing that she be re-examined.

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Says STOP president, Roma Debabrata, 8216;8216;It was remarkable the way Anisa handled questions at the meetings abroad, spoke of her experiences and even corrected those who had wrong notions about rescued girls.8217;8217;

Ask her what she liked best about foreign countries and Anisa is quick to reply, 8216;8216;The fact that there is no social ostracisation of women, of a stigma being attached to their names.8217;8217;

She likes wearing jeans but dislikes anyone wearing bright red lipstick, 8216;8216;it reminds her of those days in the brothel.8217;8217;

For a girl who lost her childhood, Anisa is in a hurry to catch up on life.