Naresh

Naresh was only 4 years old when he became a slave.

Naresh’s family was struggling to survive in their village in Bihar, India. In desperation, his father took a job in another state, and he took Naresh with him. One day, a man approached his father and offered to take Naresh and give him food, clothing, a place to stay–and an education. Naresh’s father thought this might be his son’s only chance to be well-provided for, so he agreed.

Once Naresh went to stay with this man, he never saw his family again. Naresh explains what his life was like during the two years he was there:

“I would get up at 5am to make breakfast for the family. Once everyone had eaten they would go to their offices and I would mop the whole house, and then have my own breakfast. They locked the door and I was left on my own. Sometimes I would watch TV. When the family had visitors I would lay the table, wash the dishes for everyone. At first it felt like they loved me. I was getting enough food. But then one day I put too much water in the chapatis and some flour fell out of my hands onto the floor. The man beat me with his fists and shoes. I went up to the terrace above the house and slept there for the night. Then early the next morning I just ran away without taking anything. I was frightened of being beaten again. I don’t know where I went but it was very far.”

Caught on the streets by the authorities, he spent the next six years in dismal detention homes. During a fight among the children at the detention home, Naresh ran away with several other children. They climbed out of a broken window and jumped over the wall. One of the children was hurt jumping over the wall, but the other children carried him to the train station. They rode the train to a neighboring state, where they saw a hotline number for children. Wanting to get their injured friend to a hospital, they called the hotline number, where they eventually got in touch with Bal Vikas Ashram, one of Free the Slaves’ partners in India.

Bal Vikas staff realized the boys had suffered under child slavery, and took them in to their child slave rehabilitation center. At the center, Naresh and his friends are receiving medical care, counseling, literacy training and basic rights training. The center is helping the boys look for their families and will help them reintegrate into their villages.

Although he is still settling in at the center, Naresh says “I’m happy here, I won’t run away.” He has never had the chance for education before, but now he loves learning to write, and is rapidly filling up his first notebook. He believes some of his family members will still be in his home village, although he has not seen them for 8 years: “I want to go home and find my family at any cost. Then I want to work in my own house and not in someone else’s house.”