A SHELTERING TREE

‘Because … so many times I needed a refuge, but there wasn’t one. I want to give the shelter of a flowering tree to any girl who needs it.’

I am 15 and I have no parents. When I was 11, my cousin sold me to a brothel in Kolkata. A year ago I was rescued and brought to this shelter. Those years of rape and beatings won’t leave my mind. I want to forget, but people won’t stop asking me questions. It’s like a wound being opened again and again. I dream of a girl in a village who is continuously being raped and she is screaming in pain. I wish I could stop seeing this dream.