Prajwala – The Eternal Flame

I have been an avid follower of TED ever since the beginning. One lazy afternoon I watched a simple young woman walk on to the stage and the next 13 minutes were the biggest shock of my life.

It was the 2009 TED talk by Dr. Sunitha Krishnan about forced sex-slavery (you can watch the video here)

Deeply disturbed, I decided to send an email to Dr. Krishnan asking how I could help. (To this day, I am overjoyed that she actually took the time to reply to my mail) Her reply was simple – “for the time being concentrate on your studies, get a good job, and then do something for Prajwala. Until then, just spread awareness and break the silence over this issue”, she said.

So here I am, doing what I promised her – to break the silence.

Prajwala is a non-governmental organization in Hyderabad, India, opposed to forced prostitution and sex trafficking. It was founded by Dr. Sunitha Krishnan, along with Br. Jose Vetticatil. Today, Prajwala runs over 17 transition centres in different areas of Andhra Pradesh for sex workers’ children. Over 5,000 children have benefited from the second generation prevention programme. The organization, so far, has rescued more than 2,500 victims with the help of the information provided by its partners and through police intervention.

What can YOU do???

Men – Sign the petition to support Men Against Demand (M.A.D.)

Ladies – Send this to your friends and ask them to sign up

(Click here for the petition)

Well, all the information you need is freely available on the internet. Anyways, I have provided various sources and links below. Like Dr. Krishnan says, spread the message. Let more people know about what is happening in our beloved country (and abroad). Let the government wake up and take notice. Let this spread like wildfire.

Contact details:

India:

Dr. Sunitha Krishnan

Phone: +91 98480 25014

Email: sunitha_2002@yahoo.com

Washington D.C.

Ms. Lanna Walsh

Email: lannatw@gmail.com

Ms. Karen Mulhuaser

Email: kmulhauser@consultingwomen.com

Switzerland

Ms. Beatrice

Email: b.damico@proconf.ch

More Details:

Prajwala

20-4-34, III Floor, Behind Charminar Bus Stand

Charminar, Hyderabad

Andhra Pradesh, INDIA

Zip/Pin: 500 002

Ph: +91 40 24510290

Fax: +91 40 24410813

Email: praj_2010@yahoo.com

To support through donations, click here

If you are interested in serious volunteering opportunities, click here

To see Dr. Krishnan’s Blog, click here

Official Prajwala website, click here

For Facebook Users:

Official Page, click here

Dr. Sunitha Krishnan’s Profile, click here

Men Against Demand (M.A.D.) Page, click here

A Sincere Request:

To fellow bloggers: Please write about this (issue and Prajwala’s work). Let all your readers know.

To Facebook friends: Please share this post on your profile so that your friends also know about what is happening around us.

To Dr. Sunitha Krishan: Like I have already told you a number of times, you are my hero. I never forget to pray for you and the girls. God Bless You All!

Let the eternal flame of Prajwala spread and stay alive forever.

“...I have this deep-rooted belief that my life is a providence by itself, and God has brought me in this world to do what I'm doing, and God will allow me to stay in this world so long as he believes that my mission is not done, and therefore I do believe that the day God believes that my work is done, I'll be killed or I'll die naturally, or whichever way that is possible.”

-          Dr. Sunitha Krishnan

Another post I wrote: To read about a graphic novel, HUSH, that talks about similar issues of exploitation of children, click here