One Little Girl

I never knew. I just never knew. Never thought about it. Ever. Any of it.

That’s on me. I’m the new compliance professional. I’m the person who should be dealing with this. I’m the main one. The one who should have dug deeper, looked closer, been more aware.

It just never occurred to me. Never. Not once.

As a sort of excuse, I was busy. Getting started on a new job. Learning the way things were done here. Settling into the new place, new coworkers, new environment.

So, in a way, it was way too easy to get things past me.

My new job – my new workplace – the company I work for – the company made a mistake. An error. A serious error in how we do our business.

Our company did business with another company – we signed agreements. We liked their numbers. They promised to do the work we needed done. At a fair price. It was a good deal. It looked fine.

On paper. Yes. On paper it looked decent. They had great facts and figures. We all believed them. We made the deal. Signed up. It all went smoothly and well.

Yeah. The deal looked fine. On paper.

And then one day I saw a photo. Smuggled out of a place that made my stomach turn.

It’s called human trafficking. It’s called child labor. It’s called ugly and evil.

It’s virtual slavery. For children.

The photo reached me on a clear, bright, ordinary day, and I could not believe my eyes – what I saw.

Children. Skinny, young, scared children. Working to make the product we would sell.

To me it had been “supply chain management,” “third party due diligence,” a technical contract issue.  But now I saw that wasn’t what it really was.

It was child labor.

And the children. Oh, the children. Those small hands working machines they should never have been anywhere near. Dangerous machines.

The children. So small. So young. Slave labor. So thin, they were. So small and weak looking.

Their clothes were ragged. Their little faces so thin. Their eyes so scared. Their fingers so small.

One face stuck in my mind.

She reminded me of my own niece. Her eyes big and sad, though. I hurt inside to see her. She looked so small, so lost and alone.

My niece was full of smiles and laughter.

This little girl – her eyes so like my niece’s eyes – this girl looked weighed down with hurt, with fear, with suffering.

It was a photo I would never forget. Never. Not ever.

So, I am taking action.

How could I not take action? I will do whatever it takes to help those children – every single one of them. But especially the girl with my niece’s eyes.

I will be haunted forever by her eyes – sad, afraid, alone – that’s what her eyes told me. This wasn’t “supply chain management” anymore.  It wasn’t anything technical.  This was real pain. 

Somehow. Some way. I will not stop until that little girl – and all of those children – are safe and well and strong.

I will not stop.

© 2024 K. Leet

What do you think?

What do you know about human trafficking?

What are the laws related to it?

Are there any ways you can help?

These are stories (usually fictional, but not always), based on insights and experiences from the world of compliance & ethics.