It’s not an easy path to employment when you are escaping years of trauma and abuse. Friends of Basha is a non-profit initiative that provides the support, care and services needed for women thrive. We provide training, counselling, children’s programmes, medical care and more. Women are empowered to live lives free from exploitation and to give their children a bright future.
This case explores the root causes that make women vulnerable to trafficking — from poverty and lack of education to systemic inequality and coercion. By understanding these drivers, we can develop better solutions to prevent exploitation before it begins.
We ensure that the children and women we serve have safe, stable homes. Many women are able to secure housing once they earn a steady income, but we also provide placements for street children, women with mental health challenges, and children whose parents are unable to provide a safe home.
Friends of Basha’s daycare programme provides daily educational activities and tutoring catered to the age of the child. More than 130 children receive healthy, high protein food twice a day in addition to meals with their families.
Our training program provides women time to heal as well as receive training that will last a lifetime. Receiving a monthly allowance allows women to completely cut ties with their abusers and begin to learn the skills to sustain themselves.
We don’t define health just in the physical, we know that to flourish again, we must care for all parts of our body and mind. Through medical care, we ensure women are physically healthy and when a crisis emerges, we do our best to cover medical emergencies.
We serve women and families with the support and encouragement they need to rebuild their lives. Through our women’s training programme and onsite daycare, we help create safe, stable pathways toward healing and independence. Many women and children come to us having experienced extreme poverty, malnutrition, lack of schooling, or lives shaped by exploitation and survival.
Why do we exist and how are we different from Basha Boutique? Why do women end up trafficked?
Friends of Basha exists to support the holistic restoration journey of women and children escaping trafficking and abuse. While Basha Boutique provides employment and skills training, Friends of Basha focuses on the deeper needs—safe housing, trauma counseling, education, and long-term care.
We stand beside survivors as they rebuild their lives with dignity and hope, addressing the root causes of trafficking such as poverty, lack of education, and social vulnerability.
Poverty is not simply a lack of decent employment. It starts with little to no education, not getting enough food, leading to preventable diseases. Unable to provide their children with anything different, the cycle repeats.
While Bangladesh has made strides in gender equality in recent years, men continue to hold much of the power. Females are expected to have strong male guardians to protect them and often lack power to protect themselves or make their own decisions. In spite of being illegal, child marriage is also common in some communities.
Any stain on a girl’s reputation can follow her into her future. Sexual harassment, unwanted suitors, rape, or human trafficking mean a girl is seen as dirty and no longer respected in society.
This photo showcase explores the complex realities behind why women and children become victims of trafficking. Through powerful imagery and real-life stories, it reveals the vulnerabilities, systemic inequalities, and deceptive practices that lead to exploitation—raising awareness and inspiring action for change.
