I was rescued from a brothel but am struggling to feed my family

My name is Saina and I come from Jaynagar in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. I am 27 years old. I was widowed five years ago when I was only 22 years old. I was forced to return to my parents' home. 

My father is a daily labourer and was struggling to take care of my children and me. I really wanted to help in some way. One day, in 2018, I had gone to the hospital with my sister-in-law when I met a man who struck up a conversation with us. He said that he knew someone who could arrange a job for me. I thought that this was a chance for me take some of the burden off my father and help raise my children.

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He first took me to Canning, a nearby town, and then to Pune. Once we reached there, he sold me to a brothel. I was there for several months before I was finally rescued by social workers from Bandhan Mukt, a survivor leaders’ collective.

They worked with their mentor organisation called Goranbose Gram Bikas Kendra, and approached the Pune Police. They conducted a raid on the brothel in November 2018 and rescued me and five other girls who had been trafficked. 

While I am relieved that I was rescued, life after coming back home has not been easy for me and we are having a huge financial crisis. My father is suffering from serious liver issues, and I am really struggling to arrange money for their food and medicines.

However, we were managing till COVID-19 struck.  Things have become so bad that I became desperate and borrowed Rs 60,000 from a local moneylender at six percent monthly interest rate.

Without any work or alternative source of income, I am clueless about how I can repay the loan.