Five girls. Five villages. One factory. They held onto faith — one day at a time — that someone would come.
They did not know each other before they were taken. They found each other in a locked room in a city none of them could name. They survived together. MTN's team found them on day 91.
“Some nights we could not sleep. We would sit together and say — one more day. Just one more day. If we could get through one more day, someone would come. And then morning would come. And we would say it again.”
They did not know each other before they were taken. Each one came from a different village — each recruited by a different contractor, each promised a different thing. A job in a city. A wage that would help the family. A way out of the season's debt.
They found each other in a locked dormitory attached to a garment unit in a city none of them could read the name of. There were five of them: Leela, Mary, Sitha, Grace, and Kavitha. The youngest was twelve.
They worked from before sunrise to after dark. No wages were paid — the contractor said the money was being held until the advance was paid off. There was always more advance. There was always more debt.
At night, in the dormitory, they talked in whispers. They came from different regions and did not always share the same language. Mary prayed aloud in the evenings — softly, so the contractor's men outside would not hear. The others, whatever they believed, found themselves listening. Leela said later that it helped — not the words, but the sound of a voice that was not afraid.
What held them together was not a plan. It was a daily practice — one more day. When the fear became too large to hold, they would say it aloud to each other: just one more day. Someone is looking. Someone will come. The faith was not always full. Some nights it was very thin. But it did not break.
On day 91, MTN's rescue team arrived with local police following a tip from a community contact. The door opened. Sitha was the first to stand. Grace did not move for a long moment — she asked, in a voice very quiet: are you real?
They were taken to a safe house within the hour. Within six hours they had eaten three meals and seen a doctor. Within 24 hours, families had been contacted.
The photo on this page was taken in month four of rehabilitation. The smiles are genuine. They are what survival and safety and time look like when they come together.
- •Five girls aged 12–16, trafficked from separate villages by labour contractors with false promises of factory work
- •Held in a locked dormitory, working 14-hour shifts in a garment unit — no wages paid, no contact with family
- •No documentation — their identity papers were held by the contractor
- •Families reported them missing; police registered cases but had no leads
- •None of them knew where they were — they could not read the city's name on the signboards outside
- →MTN's rescue team received a tip from a community contact and coordinated with local authorities
- →All five girls recovered on day 91 — escorted by MTN field staff and police to a safe house
- →Medical check, trauma assessment, and three meals conducted within the first six hours
- →Each girl's family contacted within 24 hours; two families reached immediately, three required field team tracing
- →Enrolled in MTN's residential rehabilitation programme — trauma-informed care, counselling, and schooling
- →Legal support provided — contractor identified; case filed under child labour and trafficking statutes
- ✓All five girls are in residential care — safe, fed, and in school
- ✓Three have been reunited with family under supervised reintegration with ongoing monitoring
- ✓Two remain in residential care while family situations are stabilised by MTN's field team
- ✓All five are receiving trauma counselling — the smiles in this photo are from month four of rehabilitation
- ✓The contractor was arrested. The case is active.
Name has been changed to protect privacy. Statistics are reported by programme teams and reviewed at our annual audit.