Each year, hundreds of Nepalese parents sell their children to circuses in India, thinking their children will have a better future. For just $30, the children leave their homes behind only to become slaves. At the circus, they will be exploited, subjected to physical and sexual abuse, and their lives will become a living hell. When they grow up, the girls will be distributed among the showmen as sexual objects.
Philip Holmes, a former lieutenant colonel in the British army, left his former life to fight this scourge and rescue as many circus children as he could. His foundation, The Esther Benjamin Trust, has already rescued hundreds of them. Biker and writer Fabian C. Barrio, supported by Mutua Madrileña, has joined his undertaking.
These little acrobats are potential slaves. ‘We’re talking about children who never leave the fenced structure of the circus. Many child slaves are used for child prostitution, and forced marriages are not uncommon to preserve the circus tradition’, states Fabian.
Fabian met Philip during one of his trips in Nepal. When they met, Philip put Fabian up to date with the extreme situation faced by children there, where his NGO is simply overwhelmed with work. Trained through beatings and after years of forcing their small bodies to exhaustion, many of them end up with disabilities, begging in the streets.
Esther Benjamin Trust rescues about 100 children each year from this living hell. Philip organizes raids constantly, together with a team of volunteers and the police. To date, his NGO has managed to put fifteen traffickers in jail. Unfortunately, trafficking has intensified and new routes toward Africa are emerging.
Once children are rescued, those who are undocumented are taken to Philip Holmes’ shelter home in Kathmandu. There, the children go through a long recovery process because of the disorders engendered by their suffering. Without an ID, it is almost impossible to locate their families. Insecurity, fear, rejection and nightmares accompany them throughout their rehabilitation.
Esther Benjamin Trust’s work is critical for thousands of children who lack a past, a present or a future. Fabian C. Barrio gives his heartfelt thanks to Mutua Madrileña, who ‘from believed in the viability of the expedition and supported me without a second thought. There are twenty million children working in India’s streets, and half of the children in this country are sexually abused at least once in their life’, says Fabian bitterly.
When Fabian is asked what people that can do regarding the rescue of circus children, he answers ‘Spread the word. Stories exist only when people know they happen’.
Source: libertaddigital.com
