9. A young bride
A lot of real life human trafficking examples and stories in Asia are about what the rest of the world takes pretty much for granted nowadays: the possibility of choosing your own partner. 13-year-old Tahmina was so traumatized that she couldn’t verbalize what she had been through, so she used a paper and pencil to draw her story. Amid the drawings, there was one figure: 50,000 rupees (about $700). Tahmina’s own sister and her husband tricked her into going on a day trip with them with the intention of selling her to the highest bidder. The groom was 30 years her senior (!). Fortunately, the child bride escaped from the “husband” after six weeks and found a safe house. The little girl was later reunited with her mother.
