Through our Sponsor a Child program, the Nivasa Foundation provides basic necessities to ten children whose mothers are victims of slavery. These are their stories:
Rukshan, age 10
 Rukshan's mother was trafficked to Lebanon to work as a housemaid, but was forced to sleep in the kitchen and scrounge for leftovers. Her employer frequently beat her, cut off her hair, prevented her from going outside, and never provided compensation for her work. After a year, their mother escaped and made her way back to Sri Lanka. Today, Rukshan lives with his mother, father, and two-year-old brother in their grandfather's home, a shack no larger than a small bedroom. The five of them share one bed. Their mother cooks on a makeshift stove outside the house, using water brought in from the street. She works providing domestic help, cooking, selling meal packets, and helping to plan weddings and parties, while their father fishes to help provide for the family.
Manoj, age 9
 When Manoj's mother arrived in Lebanon, ready to begin work as a housemaid, she found herself in a very different situation. Her passport was taken away and she was forced to work without pay. When her male employer sexually assaulted her, she jumped out the window in a desperate attempt to escape her enslavement. Injured, she ran into the street and made her way to the Laksetha Center, where Christian Sisters are known to support migrant housemaids in Lebanon and enable them to go back to Sri Lanka. Manoj was reunited with his mother and the family lives in a rural town in Sri Lanka without public transportation. His mother earns money raising chickens and pigs while his father works husking coconut. Their household income amounts to about $2 USD per day. Manoj is in the third grade and attends school daily while his three-year-old sister remains at home with his mother.
Aska, age 11 and Ansi, age 11
 Aska and Ansi are twins and were adopted when they were three years old after being abandoned by their birth mother. Their adoptive mother has raised them as a single parent, struggling to get by. Several years ago, she went to work in Lebanon on a temporary contract from a local employment agency. For one year, she was forced to work long hours without pay, endure beatings and near-starvation and sleep in a closet. When she finally escaped she was helped by another Sri Lankan woman who brought her to the Laksetha Center where victims of human trafficking in Lebanon can find assistance. Their mother suffers from depression and is unable to provide for them financially. They currently live with their grandparents and are tended to by their grandmother.
Navodaya, age 8 and Dulanjana, age 6
Navodaya and Dulanjana's mother sought housework in Lebanon, but found herself enslaved by her employer, locked in the home and not given any food. Working eighteen hour days under brutal conditions, she never received any compensation. After escaping, she was able to find help and retrieve her passport, which had been taken from her. Now back in Sri Lanka, she lives with Navodaya and Dulanjana, although her recent paralysis has made employment difficult. The family relies on the children's father who earns a meager $40 USD per month from working at a Tobacco Company and as a casual laborer.
Lilan Chanaka, age 14, Pemal, age 9 and Nilan Piyadarshana, age 6
 These children's lives were changed forever when their mother went to Lebanon to work as a housemaid for a famous singer. She was forced to sleep in the kitchen and worked an arduous eighteen hour day, sustained only on the family's leftovers. Enduring regular beatings, she was prohibited from communicating with the outside, had her passport taken away, and was never paid. After two months, she managed to escape her enslavement and made her way back to Sri Lanka. The family now lives in a makeshift home with a single bed, improvised well, a toilet in the nearby woods, and an outdoor wooden stove. Their father earns a living by picking and selling coconuts and fishing with a self-fashioned fishing pole. Their average income per day is less than $2.50 USD.
Nimesha, age 12
After two years of housework in Lebanon, Nimesha's mother's employment contract was extended without notice. Her employers withheld payment and prohibited her from leaving when she learned that her husband and Nimesha were in the hospital. In order to escape, Nimesha's mother swallowed toilet cleaner and ended up in a local hospital. After receiving treatment, the Sisters at the Laksetha Center arranged for her to return to Sri Lanka, reuniting with Nimesha and her husband who had suffered spinal injuries. Nimesha is unable to walk and relies on her mother to carry her around the house and sporadically bring her to and from school. Her disability, as well as her father's, prevent Nimesha's mother from earning an income, forcing the family to subsist on her father's pension and the support of friends and family.
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