A video of young women enjoying the tradition of English folk dancing when British dance choreographer Sue Way spent a volunteer assignment with UK children's charity The Esther Benjamins Trust (www.ebtrust.org.uk) in 2007 and decided to introduce the children who are in the Trust's care to a different tradition -- English and Breton folk dance.

joyful


PACT - Programme Against Child Trafficking

PACT's focus is on the rescue and rehabilitation of Nepali children and young women who have been trafficked across the border to work in bonded labour in Indian circuses. Many of these children - primarily girls - were sold by their impoverished families for as little as £15 to trafficking agents who visited their villages. The girls were then sold to the circuses of India, where they are forced to work 18-hour days. Nearly all of the girls endure physical abuse; many are also sexually assaulted and raped.

After their rescue, any children who can be reunited with their families return home. Unfortunately, the majority would be immediately sold again (often into prostitution), or after anything up to 15 years in the circus have no family to return to. The Esther Benjamins Trust provides compassionate residential care to these children and young women, with a keen emphasis on psychological support, education, vocational training and employment creation to ensure their rehabilitation provides them with the opportunity to enjoy happy adult lives.