Today I flew from Dhaka to Jessore to interview victims of human trafficking. Here are several who became friends through the ordeal and are now growing beans and eggplant together on leased land to pull themselves up from poverty.
Later, we went to a community meeting where a trafficking survivor explained how to safely migrate out of the country. It's her way of paying forward the kindness shown to her after she was victimized.
"It is my pleasure to help others," she said, "so they don't have to suffer as I did."
These people are no strangers to suffering. They live on rice, endure torrential monsoons — and generally work hard for everything they have. But they offered me their only chair and pressed cold drinks in our hands. As we left, they said one of the only English words they know: "Bye bye"!
