Veeru Kohli: Bonded Slave to Community Activist

A life of servitude

At 16, Veeru was married into a family bound to a landlord because of a loan that was never settled. In bondage, she suffered 17 years under the watchful eye of her "owner." Born into the lower Hindu caste Hari, the opportunity for her to live anything but a life of servitude was unlikely. 

Veeru suffered for nearly three decades as a slave under the watchful eyes of her owner and armed guards. Every step was monitored, her children were beaten and nearly starved to death, her husband was brutally assaulted, and her daughter's innocence was threatened daily. Yet, somehow her debt amount never decreased. The cycle seemed endless. 

Floods Overtaking Her Community

A Forgotten Village

Veeru's home is a mud hut on a small strip of land next to sewer drainage, her living conditions are sub-par, but she chooses to live with her community and the poor people she liberated from bondage. Together, they've built a forgotten village she calls Azad Nagar, home to 300 families. 

Her forgotten village of Azad Nagar is one that was hit hard by recent climate disaster-driven floods in Balochistan. The little possessions they held have been washed away, little food is now non-existent, and the path forward is Grimm, especially when most of the people in this village are invisible. 

Zakat Foundation of America was asked to step forward to help this forgotten community recover from the unimaginable devastation caused by the floods in Pakistan. Dozens of humanitarian aid organizations have answered the call to help the victims of flooding in Pakistan, but few have found Azad Nagar. So we are not only bringing aid to the devastated regions in Balochistan but are also committed to providing aid to Veeru's village in Sindh.