NGO on mission to prevent human trafficking

Hyderabad: "I don't want any other family to go through the misery my family went," said Harold D'Souza, CEO and Co-founder, Eyes Open International and a human trafficking survivor, in his speech at the Hope for Freedom symposium at Tarnaka on Thursday.

The symposium was held in order to unite together individuals and empower people for prevention of human trafficking and empowering victims and those at risk for freedom and restoration.

He is taking his advocacy a step further with his month-long trip to India after 16 years with a new book, where he hopes to warn others, so they don't fall victim to the same false promises as he did.

Expressing his grief over the living conditions for him and his family back in the day, Harold shares, "My wife and I are survivors of labour trafficking and debt bondage. I came to the United States following the advice and encouragement of a man who later became my trafficker. For 133 months, I lost my freedom and struggled to keep those I loved safe."

Since D'Souza and his family gained their freedom, he has become an outspoken champion for other victims of modern-day slavery. Harold's advocacy garnered a lot of appreciation amidst survivors as well as the US government when he was called by the former United States president Barack Obama in 2015 to be a member of the US advisory council of Human Trafficking and is working under Donald Trump currently.