WHY DIDN'T YOU COME SOONER? COMPASSION IN ACTION

<p>The work of rescuing children from slavery is not for the faint of heart as the</p><p>twelve gut-wrenching accounts in this book will show. Harder still is to give</p><p>them their life back after they've been kidnapped trafficked sold abused and</p><p>made to work in horrific conditions often for as long as they can remember.</p><p>Pradeep was offered up for human sacrifice by his family thought to be a bad</p><p>omen; Devli was a third-generation slave in a stone quarry in Haryana who</p><p>had never seen a banana before her rescue; Ashraf a domestic child labourer</p><p>at a senior civil servant's house was starved and scalded as punishment;</p><p>Sahiba was trafficked from Assam to be someone's wife against her will; Kalu</p><p>was abducted and made to weave carpets all day long his injuries cauterized</p><p>with phosphorus scraped off matchsticks; Bhavna was trapped in a circus</p><p>sexually abused for years by her owners; Rakesh was worked in the fields all</p><p>year round like cattle and spent the nights locked up with them in the stable;</p><p>Sabo was born to labourers at a brick kiln and never knew life outside it; and</p><p>Manan lived his childhood mining mica in the forests of Jharkhand barely</p><p>given time to even mourn his friend who got buried when the mine caved in.</p><p>Kailash Satyarthi's own life and mission were entwined with the journeys</p><p>of these children. Having lived through unspeakable trauma they had lost</p><p>faith in humanity. But behind their reticence behind their scraggy limbs and</p><p>calloused hands and feet hope still endured. This book tells the story of their</p><p>shared struggle for justice and dignity-from the raid and rescue operations</p><p>of Satyarthi's Bachpan Bachao Andolan to international campaigns for child</p><p>rights. It is a testament both to the courage of the human spirit and to the</p><p>power of compassion.</p>