Us Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is all praise for a Young girl, Poonam Khatoon from Bihar whom she met last month at Kolkata. She often shares the story with her audience. She was amazed by Poonam’s Karate Moves.
On May 6, oozing with confidence, Poonam told Clinton that she was a karate champion and asked her whether she would like to watch her perform. Clinton laughed and asked Poonam to show some of her skills.
“One young girl, full of life, came up and asked me if I wanted to see her perform some karate moves, and I said of course. And the way she stood up, so straight and confident, the pride and accomplishment in her eyes, was so inspiring,” Clinton told a select audience at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department where she launched the 2012 Trafficking in Persons Report.
“This was a child who’d been born in a brothel to a young mother who had been forced and sold into prostitution. But when her mother finally escaped and took her daughter with her, they were out of harm’s way and finally able to make choices for themselves,” Clinton said while referring to her short-interaction with Poonam Khatoon(16).
“Now I don’t know what’s going to happen to that young girl, whose image I see in my mind’s eye, in the years and decades ahead. But I do know that with a little help, her life can be so much better than her mother’s. And that’s what we need to be focused on, and it’s what we need to try to do for all victims and survivors,” Clinton said.
After releasing the 2012 Trafficking report, Clinton said on Wednesday it is estimated as many as 27 million people around the world are victims of modern slavery, what is sometimes called trafficking.
“When I met with the people who were working with victims in Calcutta, I met several young women from the United States who had been inspired by reading about and watching and going online and learning about what was happening in the efforts to rescue and protect victims, and they were there in Calcutta working with organizations, NGOs and the faith community to do their part,” Clinton said.