Early Life of Sunitha Krishanan
Sunitha Krishnan was born (1972) in Bangalore. Her parents, who belong to Kerala, supported her to pursue social studies and support social causes even as a student. At the age of 8 years, she started teaching dance to mentally challenged children. By the age of 12, she was running schools in slums for underprivileged children.
At the age of 15, while working on a neo-literacy campaign for the Dalit community, Krishnan was brutally gang raped by eight men.
Most of the victims of gang rape don’t survive, those few who do lead a life of contempt, which makes them die daily. But Sunitha Krishana, a 15 year old girl, decided to face it with full confidence. This incident didn’t stop her from anything. Rather it fueled her.
Prajwala
Sunita Krishanan co-founded Prajwala (eternal flame) in 1996 with Brother Jose Vetticatil, a Catholic missionary who died in 2005. The journey began by converting a brothel in India’s southern city of Hyderabad into a school for the children of sex workers. She prevented the second generation from being trafficked. In its early years, Krishnan had to sell her jewelry and even most of her household utensils to make ends meet at Prajwala.
To date, Prajwala has rescued, rehabilitated, or served more than 12,000 survivors of sex trafficking. Prajwala’s “second-generation” prevention program has helped prevent thousands of children of prostituted mothers from entering the flesh trade.
In her Journey towards saving women and children from trafficking, she faced so many threats and physical assaults (14 times) – one particular attack left her with an irreparably damaged ear. Acid was once flung at her and fortunately she escaped. These incidents never stopped Sunita Krishnan and she never gave up.
Sunitha Krishnan has received numerous accolades and honors for her courageous and tireless work as an anti-trafficking crusader.
Watch this Video – One of the best Speeches
“Society makes you feel cheap. I chose not to feel like a victim. I am not a victim. I am a survivor. I speak about it with a lot of pride, because I am proud of what I have become today. I have not done a mistake. I don’t want my face to be blurred. I am not to be ashamed for. The guys that have done it should be hiding their faces and they should be blurring their faces.” – Sunitha Krishnan
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