Our Work
purchase viagra buy CIALIS Acheter Cialis moins cher buy cheap cialis
Former Slave Prepares to Harvest First Cash Crop
 PRINT |
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
BANGALORE, INDIA — "Without the water, none of this would be possible," explains Basavaraj, as he looks across the field bearing his first tomato crop. Pointing to a bare spot of moist, tilled earth, he indicates where he plans to plant peas next. Black piping runs up from the well pump at the base of the hill, jutting out from the dusty earth into Basavaraj's field. Water trickles from the pipe onto his tomatoes.

Without such irrigation systems, Basavaraj's neighbors cultivate ragi, a South Indian staple grain that is milled into an edible purple paste, and flat beans, a vegetable so tough and dry that the plants appear to be desert scrub to an outsider's eye. Basavaraj knows these crops well.

He gestures to the dry hill and surrounding fields abutting his abundantly green patch of land. "My father plants ragi up the hill. I have an idea to pipe water up there also."

Basavaraj's irrigation system has enabled him to cultivate a tomato crop.

Basavaraj's family cultivated ragi and flat beans when he was a child. Then, one day, the dry land simply could not provide for the family any longer. The family needed money for basic necessities and to ensure that Basavaraj's younger brother could stay in school, so Basavaraj went to look for work, which he found in a brick kiln.

The owner of the kiln offered Basavaraj a small advance payment, which he could use to provide for his family's pressing needs. Basavaraj was glad for the opportunity to support his family, and began what he assumed would be a temporary position. But once inside the kiln, the owner told Basavaraj that he could not leave until he repaid the advance in a lump sum. The owner then ensured that this would be impossible by applying exorbitant interest rates to the advance and paying Basavaraj wages so miniscule that he could barely afford to eat, much less repay the ever-growing debt.

Basavaraj and the other laborers were forced to remain within the kiln's borders at all times, including to eat, sleep and work. They were beaten if the owner's thugs did not think their pace was fast enough. Basavaraj had become a slave. He dreamed of escaping, but he knew that the owner would track him down and force him to return to labor in the kiln.

I am doing good. We earn money on our own. I am like a person who is out of jail.
— IJM Client Basavaraj
"I felt doomed," Basavaraj remembers. "I didn't have the hope that I would be going back to the village ever, because [the owner] wouldn't let us leave or talk about the advance. I was totally stuck. I had no hope."

Basavaraj labored for two years, trying to forget about the family he had left behind. He had given up hope of ever leaving the kiln – until one day, everything changed. IJM investigators had discovered the many slaves being held at the kiln, documented the abuse and asked the local government to intervene to protect its citizens. The local government responded, arriving at the kiln along with IJM staff to bring freedom to Basavaraj and 38 other forced laborers who had been tricked into slavery there.

IJM social workers took Basavaraj to his family and cared for his immediate needs. Then, they set about securing for him the funds of government assistance required for victims of forced labor. IJM aftercare staff persevered for two years to ensure that Basavaraj and the other freed laborers received this vital compensation.

Ten months ago, the rehabilitation funds were distributed to Basavaraj and the other slaves freed from the kiln. With his funds, Basavaraj paid for a well, and the pump and the piping that now supply water to his land. Now, Basavaraj and his and his family are anticipating the income of their first cash crop – tomatoes. His brother Govinda is in his last year of high school, an exceptional accomplishment in the village.

Surrounded by a crowd of neighboring villagers, Basavaraj updates an IJM social worker on his family's status and needs. "I am doing good. We earn money on our own," he said. Then he smiles and looks around: "I am like a person who is out of jail."

 

 
 
[ Back ]