Free the Slaves is thrilled to welcome Rajneesh Kumar Yadav to the staff as our new India country manager, based in Allahabad.
Rajneesh is no stranger, he’s run anti-trafficking teams for years as a key staffer at our partner organization MSEMVS.
Many of the remarkable rescues you’ve read about on the FTS Blog or our Facebook page have been organized by Rajneesh.
We asked Rajneesh what motivates him, and why he’s chosen to join Free the Slaves:
I am personally motivated by the famous phrase in the Bhagavad Gita: “If you don’t fight for what you want, don’t cry for what you lost.” That helps me to risk my safety to confront the powerful forces that enslave my fellow Indians. I cannot liberate slaves and change the conditions that allow slavery to persist unless I stand united with my enslaved Indians to confront powerful forces.
There are many other organization where I could have worked but the uniqueness of Free The slaves is that it uses a community-based and rights-based approach rather than a charity and welfare approach, a holistic strategy for inclusion of every segment of society.
I have a very simple philosophy on life: “To smile and make others smile.” That can happen only when people are free from sadness, fear, hardships, exploitation and bondage. We should all perform at our best to attain internal strength and to attain a precious smile of freedom.
You can see Rajneesh in action in videos here and here! Learn more about our India program here.
Rajneesh visiting a community he has successfully moved from slavery to freedom | Photo: FTS/Timpy
