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<\/a><\/p>\nFor a few minutes, we are stranded on the ribbon of dirty pavement lined in ubiquitous ramshackle storefronts and homes in the day\u2019s dim light.\u00a0 While we wait for our Save the Children India (SCI) contact to locate us, I am uneasy and on edge.\u00a0 There are a lot of hardscrabble men occupying the street.\u00a0 Several of them are generally loitering, others are going about their business.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been in similar circumstances before, back when I visited Bihar in 2010 and 2012, but this feels different.\u00a0 Whereas in Bihar there was a look of curiosity and inquisitiveness in their eyes, the men\u2019s gazes here hold something different.\u00a0 Maybe an undertone of malevolence?\u00a0 I can\u2019t place it, but instead of rationalizing it away, I remain vigilant, scanning the landscape for makeshift weapons and escapes\u2026and praying that SCI find us soon.\u00a0 My prayers are answered and before long we are found by Jennifer, a cheerful SCI associate whose presence immediately dispels the ominous undertone I\u2019ve been feeling.\u00a0 Sajji and I have been just a few doors away from SCI\u2019s center, and my relief is palpable as we enter its facilities.\u00a0 We are ushered through a set of double metal doors and I find we are in a tiny courtyard hub from which hodgepodge spokes of rooms dart in all directions. \u00a0I am getting a Hansel-and-Gretel popcorn trail feeling, but realize popcorn won\u2019t cut it as young girls, teachers, and various staff dart this way and that down the halls.\u00a0 This place is alive.<\/p>\n
We meet the director first.\u00a0 Standing about six foot tall and clothed in western style office casual, Neelam Matai is a commanding figure as she rises to great us, her voice like velvet as perfect English is spoken.\u00a0 Over a cup of heavenly chai (Indian tea), Neelam relates her journey to Delhi, to Sarai Kale Khan, to this place.\u00a0 Her story is extraordinary.\u00a0 While working with an anti-trafficking organization in Mumbai, Neelam becomes aware of a father who is abusing and trafficking his seven daughters.\u00a0 This wretch of a man has even named his daughters like post dated checks.\u00a0 Neelam rescues the daughters.\u00a0 While waiting for a train one day, she is approached by a man and the next thing she knows, she is waking up to a crowd huddled over her.\u00a0 The man punched her in the face so hard, she was knocked out cold and had to have three operations to fix her broken nose.\u00a0 Unsurprisingly, the man turned out to be the abusive father.\u00a0 Neelam pressed charges, and the guy\u2019s current address is prison.<\/p>\n
After this incident, Neelam married and moved to Delhi.\u00a0 Wanting to continue her anti-trafficking work, she became aware of Sarai Kale Khan as a high risk area.\u00a0 She began to make visits and inquiries, and realized no organization was serving this migrant community.\u00a0 Having worked for SCI in Mumbai, Neelam hatched the idea to organize an SCI office in Delhi.\u00a0 That was seven years, and several hundred women and girls helped, ago.\u00a0 To speak to Neelam today, she has as much passion and resolve and energy to help as she has ever had.\u00a0 Her unflagging will and desire and caring for the Sarai Kale Khan women and community is inspiring and humbling.\u00a0 I want to be Neelam when I grow up.<\/p>\n
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