By Mirjana Akovic | SOS consultant
Recently, one girl called the ASTRA SOS hotline. She sounded extremely upset and she was in huge distress, trying to explain that she was a victim of trafficking. She told us that she was desperately trying to find the solution for the problem but no one responded on her appeal. We immediately organized a meeting to find out how we could help her.
Few months ago, the relative started exploiting the girl, forcing her into prostitution and blackmailed her that he will launch the videos through the internet so everyone could see it. She was beaten every time when she didn’t earn amount of money that trafficker requested. She felt like her life was lost since she couldn’t get out of this situation. When she finally gathers the strength and reached to institutions to tell what was happening to her, they didn’t believe her and she felt rejected. They have known this man as family man and respected citizen, and on the other side, she labeled as someone who previously had some problems with drugs, who is from a smaller ethnic community according to which there are still negative attitudes and prejudices among some professionals.
ASTRA’s consultants assured her that they believe her and that they will do what she wants to support and help her. Together with her, we made a plan about future steps. With her consent, ASTRA informed relevant institutions so that they conduct an investigation regarding this case and provide further protection. Since then ASTRA is in regular contact with the girl, providing her all necessary support. The fact that somebody believes and understands her feelings, give her a hope that she will live normally.
The story of this young girl shows us how difficult is sometimes to obtain the serious attention of the institutions and how insensitive the system could be in some cases. The crucial is not to close our eyes in front of the other people’s problems. Also, it is very significant not to support prejudice and negative attitudes, but to cherish good practices. Organizations like ASTRA are there for everyone, to help them seek justice and protection.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
