Thirteen-year-old girl forced to work off father’s debt returns to school

In October 2006, when Jamilah’s* parents left their village to visit their other daughter, a strange man came and told 13-year-old Jamilah that her father owed him a small debt, so she needed to come with him in his place. Jamilah tried to resist, but the man slapped her and threatened to kill her if she did not go with him. This stranger then forced Jamilah to accompany him to a brick kiln where she was forced to work daily from six in the morning until five in the evening for a wage of less than 40 cents per day.

Jamilah’s parents had no idea where she had been taken, but they quickly began looking for her, spending several weeks’ worth of their normal salary searching for her with no news of her whereabouts. Many weeks passed before a person from Jamilah’s native village returned home and told Jamilah’s family that he had worked in a brick kiln alongside their daughter. He told them that Jamilah was being held captive, brought to the kiln by a man named Sivan.

Jamilah’s parents were already very familiar with Sivan, a moneylender who accepted large cash advances from brick kiln owners in order to give smaller advances to individual laborers. Laborers receiving such advances from Sivan were then required to work in the brick kiln, and Jamilah’s father had become entrapped in this scheme months before Jamilah was kidnapped. Not content to wait for her father to repay the sum, Sivan took Jamilah, forcing her to work instead for her father’s debt.

When Jamilah’s father found out where she was, he contacted Sivan, but Sivan would not let him speak to his daughter. When he went to the kiln to try to see his daughter, Sivan became violent and threatened him. Sivan told Jamilah’s father that he would not let Jamilah go until he repaid his remaining debt.

Other victims rescued by IJM were now living in the same village as Jamilah’s family and told Jamilah’s father to contact IJM for help. After hearing about the situation over the phone, IJM staff immediately went to meet with Jamilah’s parents to gather more information. With her father’s assistance, IJM agents were able to meet secretly with Jamilah a few days later and document her story for presentation to the government.

Two days later, after persuading the government of the urgent need to rescue Jamilah, IJM staff members accompanied government and police officials to the brick kiln and extracted Jamilah from the kiln. After being temporarily placed in a government children’s home, IJM assisted government officials in allowing Jamilah to return to her parent’s custody. A criminal case has been filed against Sivan and against the brick kiln, and IJM is currently working to prosecute the perpetrators.

IJM staff recently visited with Jamilah, now reunited with her family and enrolled in school, where she reports: “I’m very happy that I don’t have to work there in the kiln anymore.”