Real Restoration in Bangladesh

Overview of Bangladesh (2024)
Population: 175 million  (USA 342 million)
Square miles: 56,000  (USA 3.16 million, excluding Alaska)
Density: 3120 people/sq mile  (USA 108 people/sq mile)
Predominant Religion(s): Islam 90% and Hindu 9%
GDP per capita: $2,650  (USA $83,060)

Sharmila worked in a brothel outside of Kolkata for five years after having been trafficked from Bangladesh when she was 18 years old. After being told that she had paid back what she owed to the madam, she decided to remain in the Kolkata area. She recalled the abusive nature of her previous family life and decided that returning home would not be in her best interest.
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“From the moment that a woman has paid her debts, she is free to leave the brothel.” Sharmila said. “But these women are socially stigmatized outside their ‘homes’ and thus often choose to stay and continue supporting their families with their earnings.”

​When Anju was 18 years old, her husband told her that she should travel to Kuwait to make some money for the family as a domestic worker.   Upon arriving at the airport in Kuwait, she was taken to the home of a local businessman. For the first month she did housework. But then she was forced to provide sexual services to the men in the house as well as those from other families. At first she resisted, but after regular beatings she finally gave in. Since her family had borrowed from moneylenders in Bangladesh, she felt she could not return empty handed. For three years she remained in this situation until her visa expired and she was returned to Bangladesh.
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Sushma was trafficked to a brothel in Mumbai. After nearly four years, when she had paid back what they said she owed, she was allowed to leave. Since her family thought she was in India working in a carpet factory, she returned home without telling anyone what she had been doing. When asked where the money she had earned was, she lied and said that it was stolen as she was returning home. Although she was allowed to reintegrate into the community, she lived in constant fear that someday someone would recognize her and reveal her secret. She did her best to live with the shame and the depression that followed her long ordeal.​