Noble form of payback

– Sex trafficking survivors trained in welding and carpentry are helping to rebuild homes and schools in India’s Kerala state, which was devastated by weeks of flooding.

Hundreds of people perished last month in the worst floods to hit the coastal state in a century, and more than one million of Kerala’s 35 million people were forced to take shelter in relief camps.

The floodwaters have now subsided, but many of their houses are in ruins.

“Some have no relatives, or have lost their entire families. They have nobody to help them,” said Eiti Mirza, 21, who was rescued two years ago by Prajwala, an anti-trafficking charity based in Hyderabad.

“We are cleaning their homes, fixing doors and windows so they can live there,” she said from Chengannur, a town on the Pamba River that was among the worst hit.

The floods triggered an unprecedented wave of volunteers who pitched in to help, with 20 sex trafficking survivors joining the relief effort.

Their skills were welcome, said Pallithazhath Bahuleyan Sajan of the Centre of Science and Technology for Rural Development, a Kerala-based charity that works on low-cost housing and women’s empowerment.

“There is a lot of labour scarcity, particularly carpenters, and there was a lot of damage,” he said.

Mirza said that she and her colleagues are able to fix about 10 homes each day. – Reuters