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Tens of millions of humans are trafficked every year – sold
into slavery; forced into prostitution; purchased as child brides;
or harvested for organs. There are 10 times more slaves in the
world now than there were at the height of slavery in America.
In fact, the Global Slavery Index pegs the total number of
people in captivity at around 46 million. Nearly a quarter of
those are children.

For anyone living in the First World, the very notion of human
trafficking is horrendous, to the extent that it’s hard to imagine.
But then you meet a pair of young women like Shital Ghimire and
Saraswoti Adhikari – lively circus performers from Nepal, touring
the world with their self-made company – and discover not only
what it means to be sold, but also what it means to be freed.

They’ve come to Australia as part of an exchange with Women’s
Circus – a not-for-profit feminist arts organisation based in
Footscray, a thriving creative suburb of Melbourne. In the Women’s
Circus training space – a converted drill hall – Shital and Saraswoti
learn rope-jumping skills. Their Nepalese interpreter translates
the instructions from the facilitator to the girls, and joins in the
activities, too. It’s just like lunchtime skipping sessions in primary
school, only everyone here is an adult, and the Double Dutch is a
bit more full on. Explosions of laughter follow everyone’s mistakes,
and applause follows successful executions. “This is their happiest
moment,” the interpreter says of Shital and Saraswoti. “They love
circus training more than anything.” But it was only a handful of
years ago that their regular training sessions involved beatings
and humiliation.

“When I couldn’t do the training, they’d put a rope around my
waist and keep hitting me with a stick,” Shital recalls, quiet and
detached. A life of torture was simply her reality growing up.

In fact, Shital was so young when she was sold to an Indian

circus that she can’t even remember it happening. “If there

was a little mistake, there would be violence,” she explains,

“So, sometimes I’d be like, ‘I’m a bit sick – I can’t train.’ But

then someone would come into your room and grab you and

beat you.” She never tried to escape, because she had no

idea whatshe would be escaping to. When folks from a rescue

organisation turned up, she politely declined their offer to take

her away. Her reasoning: she didn’t know her parents. “This is

my family,” she told them.

Meanwhile, in another Indian circus, Saraswoti (whose name

translates to ‘the goddess of wisdom’) endured similar

punishment, carefully doled out to those parts of her body that

wouldn’t be exposed during show time – on the feet, for example.

Unlike Shital, Saraswoti remembers the moment she was sold.

Walking with her sister, Saraswoti, then eight, was approached

by a man who offered to take them somewhere they would

be provided for. “There will be food, there will be clothes,” he

promised. So poor were the sisters that they didn’t even consult

their parents – they just left with him, their youth and poverty

exploited for a stranger’s gain. Although dazzled by the costumes,

and not particularly scared to begin with, Saraswoti would quickly

encounter the ritual brutality of life in a forced circus. Together

with a few other captives, she attempted to escape. Twice she

failed, then she gave up altogether.

“With all the human trafficking still going on, I figured I might

as well stay there, and whatever theysay, just do it,” she says.

Married at 14 to the circus owner’s son, Saraswoti had two

children of her own – both boys. As per Shital’s experience, the

circus that abused Saraswoti literally became her family. Both

meet the first circus in nepal to be set up by

survivors of child trafficking.

WORDS MIA TIMPANO

circus kathmandu

real life