Their living nightmare came to an end when their captor was stopped in a traffic control. He had brought the youngest child with him, and a police officer, who found the shabbily dressed child looking sick, demanded to see the child’s mother. The monster was then forced to take the police to the cabin, and the tragedy was revealed. In this case the policeman’s attitude made the difference. His alertness and interest in the child’s wellbeing led to the rescue of the victims.
Sadly there are monsters among us, and there are at any given time numerous captive women and children who are suffering under horrible conditions. Trafficking is a global curse, particularly in poor countries. India, where I spend time, is one such example. Thousands of children and young women disappear every year. While the women may be locked up in brothels, many of the children are out on the street, dressed in filthy clothes, begging at traffic junctions in the big cities, being treated like little slaves. My wife once gave a sweater to a little girl who was begging at a junction in Delhi a cold autumn night. The girl immediately put in on, but when my wife passed through the same junction an hour later, the sweater was gone. Obviously her ‘owners’ had taken it. Some of the street children are living with their parents in abject poverty, and the whole family may have to beg to survive, but others are surely victims of trafficking.
There are some NGOs trying to help street children in need, but they face an overwhelming task. What if the police had routinely checked up on the street children’s keepers?
I dream of a world where authorities and the police show genuine care for needy children, like the Italian policeman. If so, at least one part of the kidnapping/trafficking curse would be addressed.