CHENNAI, INDIA – This month, members of the IJM Chennai team met with survivors who were rescued from bonded labour 16 years ago. It was a joy and inspiration to see them, but also a particularly gratifying experience given the harrowing events that led to their freedom.

Sujina, Starlin, Seemon, Thenmozhi and Manikandan were among 94 people rescued from an abusive brick kiln near Bangalore in December 2005. During that rescue operation, the owner and his accomplices grew violent and began to cause a riot—undeterred by the presence of police officers. IJM staff realised the situation was getting out of hand and jumped into their cars to leave. But the owner and his accomplices surrounded IJM’s cars, hurled abuses, broke our cameras, pelted the cars with stones, and threatened to kill everyone by setting the cars on fire.

Reliving this moment is gut-wrenching for every IJM staff member, whether they were physically present at the scene or not. However, meeting the survivors 16 years later and witnessing the transformation that rescue has brought to them is soul-stirring.

An IJM staff member who was present on the rescue operation, and in this follow-up visit, shared, “I was overwhelmed and delighted to visit these families recently…It took me a while to process that the young men and women I saw that day were little children at the time of rescue.”

She added: “It took me back to the day of the rescue and to the hopeless situation they were in: When in bondage, the parents of these children (then aged between 1 and 12) couldn’t envision a good future for their children, but now living in freedom they were able to provide a better life through education.”

IJM staff have also shared how encouraging it is to see how the rescue has not only impacted survivors, but also had a trickle down effect on the next generation.

“In 2005, at the brick kiln, it was heart-wrenching to see those little hands handling bricks while they should’ve been in school holding pencils. I am amazed to learn, that today one of them is on the threshold of completing a degree in technology, another is doing a degree in commerce, and some of the children are in high school. I am so grateful and humbled that I played a small part in their lives to be what they are today.”

One act of bravery changed their lives forever. They did not have to inherit their parents’ debt. The vicious cycle of exploitation and violence came to an end. Today, they are living their lives to the fullest and in freedom. And here we realise that every rescue has been nothing short of a miracle, and that every rescue matters.

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