Based on a true story.
“I’ll kill him,” Kamran* said, fists curling at his sides.
Anni* cowered back, wide-eyed. Kamran’s towering frame was tense, and she was suddenly afraid he might swing at her.
Anni had no idea if he was bluffing or not, but she couldn’t risk her father getting hurt at the hands of this madman. Not when there was something she could do to stop it.
“Please don’t kill him,” she begged. It took considerable effort to get the next words out: “Fine—I’ll marry you.”
She was only 12 years old.
Struggling to fit in
Anni was from a prominent family in her village—her parents were well respected for their work and social status, and they wanted to give their daughter the best education they could offer. When Anni was accepted into an elite school far from their village, they rented a small house nearby so she could attend.
Having just moved to the area, Anni felt out of place at her new school. The other kids already seemed to be close friends, and she felt like an outsider. As she walked home from school each day, she wore her disappointment on her face.
One day, a young man noticed her on her walk.
“Hey there, is everything okay? I’m a good listener. Let me walk with you; I’m headed the same way.”
Anni was relieved to finally have a friend. The young man, Kamran, started waiting for her each day so they could walk together, sometimes bringing a sweet from the market as a gift. After only two weeks, he told her he was falling in love with her.
At first, she welcomed this declaration and thought she was starting to feel the same. No one had ever made her feel so seen and cared for. But when he started talking about marriage and how she would drop out of school so they could move away together, she began to feel knots in her stomach.
“Come on, you don’t even like school!” he said when she expressed reluctance to drop out.
“But I’m only in seventh grade,” she replied, “and I want to go to college someday.”
Kamran told her she didn’t need college because he would always take care of her. He told her about his uncle’s property on the other side of the country, where they could have a beautiful life together.
But Anni grew more reserved. After relocating from her village to this new town and facing all the challenges that had come with that transition, the thought of moving far from her family was unbearable.
As Anni started to pull back, Kamran’s intensity seemed to increase. He continued pressuring her about marriage. Finally, in a rage, he threatened to kill her father if she refused to marry him.
Escalating control
Anni thought that after she agreed to marry Kamran, his anger would subside. Maybe he would return to being the kind and caring friend who had made her feel seen and loved.
Unfortunately, his domineering behavior only got worse.
“We leave tomorrow, and we need money to start our new lives as a married couple. You have to take money from your parents,” he told her.
She recoiled from him. “Steal from my own family? I can’t do that!”
“You will,” he said, and his tone frightened her. She remembered his threat to kill and felt powerless.
Later that night, she pretended to be asleep, waiting for her parents to go to bed. After she heard her father snoring loudly, she crept across the tile floor and eased their bedroom door open. She spotted her mother’s purse on the dresser and stole a wad of paper bills worth $28.
Then she fled the house in the dark of night, leaving everything behind. As far as she was concerned, her life was ending, but she felt it was the only way to protect her family.
Forced to fund her own exploitation
“Did you bring it?” Kamran asked her.
“Yes,” Anni replied, without reaching for the small purse slung across her body. Kamran abruptly lunged for it, and she instinctively stepped back, pulling the purse behind her.
Kamran paused for a moment to glare at her before roughly yanking the purse away and digging out the bills. Is there anything he won’t take from me? she wondered helplessly.
“I need it to buy us bus tickets,” he explained. “We will travel to my uncle’s house to get married and then go from there.”
The sun was just starting to rise when Anni and Kamran reached the bus station. Kamran purchased tickets, and then they took a seat on a bench to wait.
Interception
Love Justice monitors watched the pair for a while, noting Anni’s guarded posture and youthful appearance. Two monitors approached, introduced themselves, and asked about their relationship.
“This is my wife,” Kamran said.
The girl was clearly too young to be married, so the monitors separated the two for individual interviews.
“Do you understand the danger you may be in?” the monitor, named Isabel*, asked Anni.
Anni nodded slowly.
“Will you tell us what’s happening? We can help you,” Isabel continued.
Anni was quiet.
Isabel tried again. “You know, when I was a young girl, my sister got very sick. My family couldn’t afford the medical bills, and I was desperate to help her. A neighbor said he had a cousin in the city who could give me a good job, and I believed him. But when we got to the city, he tried to sell me off to a brothel.”
Anni’s mouth dropped open. “What happened?” she asked.
“A police officer stopped us on the street before we reached the brothel, and my neighbor fled immediately, leaving me alone with the officer. The kind officer gently explained what most likely would have happened without his intervention. He helped me get home and connected my family to a medical aid organization that helped my sister recover. I never saw that neighbor again. When I grew older, a friend who knew my story recommended this job to me. Now, I help empower others who are in the same vulnerable position I was in, preventing them from being tricked into a bad situation. Will you let us help?”
Anni thought of how powerless she had felt when Kamran threatened her. Isabel seemed to be offering the support she would need to get out of this mess with Kamran. She glanced over to where he was talking with the other monitor, a man. His arms were flailing in explanations, but his body was hunched over—cowardly, subdued.
She opened up and told Isabel everything.
“We need to take them to the police station immediately,” Isabel conferred with the other monitor after hearing Anni’s story. “This girl is in severe danger.”
At the police station, Anni’s parents arrived to pick her up, and Anni couldn’t help crying as she ran into their arms.
The greatest impact at the lowest cost
At Love Justice, we frequently see human trafficking situations where deception is the main tactic—when the potential victim is full of hope for a chance at a better life, not knowing they are in danger.
However, as in the case of Anni, forceful coercion can be another tactic traffickers use to control their targets.
Unfortunately, Anni’s parents chose not to file a case against Kamran, perhaps not willing to risk the potential damage to their reputation. In some parts of the world, filing a report like that can ostracize a family in their community and make it difficult to earn a living.
Still, Anni made it back home with her family. She got to continue her education and have the chance to pursue her dreams.
Many others never make it back home. We need your help to expand our work so that no child or person is left unprotected from the crime of human trafficking.
At Love Justice International, we’ve worked hard to hone our strategy to have the greatest impact at the lowest cost. It currently costs us less than $200 to stop one person, like Anni, from being trafficked. At this time in our organization, we have opportunities for expansion ready and waiting for us—the only thing holding us back is funding.
Exponential growth requires exponential resources. Will you join us and be part of these beautiful stories of freedom?
*All data and statistics current at the date and time of publishing. Names changed and some specific locations excluded for privacy and security purposes. Images are representative. Some images made using AI.
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