A street child in Bangladesh

"It's here. In our towns, our cities and communities."

Tuesday November 28 2017

Jackie Macadam meets Dr Pam Cairns, a campaigner for street children and victims of human trafficking.

“You think, if it’s here at all, it must be confined to the big cities. But fairly recently, I read about a case of people trafficking in a hotel in a popular tourist area in the Highlands. It really is shocking when you start looking at it.”

Dr Pam Cairns (right) delivered a passionate speech to the annual Guild gathering in Dundee this year about human trafficking – a topic that has become central to her life in recent years.

Born in Moffat, Pam spent her early years at Tundergarth School, with 12 other pupils. After attending Lockerbie Academy, Pam went to Edinburgh University to study medicine, and after graduating, trained to become a GP. She got married to Alan, a pharmacist, and they had three children (and now five grandchildren).

Life changed after they watched a documentary, ‘Ferry Up the Amazon’, about the work of the Vine Trust.

Pam says: “We were impressed with the passion and the imagination behind the work being done and decided to make a donation to them.

“Imagine our surprise when Willie McPherson, the CEO of the Trust, phoned us up and asked if we’d like to go to Peru.

“In 2004 we took the first medical team out there to work with the indigent Indians along the Amazon. All the volunteers were from the Kirkcaldy area supported by the local churches. There were three doctors, two dentists, one nurse, a teacher – and a pharmacist!

“When we came back from Peru, it’s fair to say our world view had changed.

“I gave up my GP work and took on the role of volunteer medical director for the Vine Trust.

“The work I did there began to really open up my eyes to the life of the street children. I just wasn’t prepared for the complete lack of care that street children around the world experience; the abuse; the danger and the exploitation they suffer from.

“It really affected me and I desperately wanted to do something to help them.”

“I met Paul Clark, the director of Scripture Union Peru, who had been working with the street boys for over 25 years. He told us some harrowing stories from his experiences. He spoke of the cruelty meted out to street children from shopkeepers, abusers and the authorities.

“Many of the children are abandoned due to poverty and lose their families when their mother takes a new partner. In Peru, and some other countries, a man won’t raise another man’s children – so youngsters find themselves in the streets. The mothers seem to hope that they will just run with the other street children, but the truth is their lives are horrible, full of fear and cruelty, being pursued by the police, the authorities and preyed on by predators of every type.”

Since retiring from the Vine Trust, Pam has dedicated her life to tackling modern slavery and the plight of street children around the world. She has written two books for young readers – The Dead Don’t Hurt Us and Trampled Shoots and gives talks to groups of Soroptimists, Guilds, community groups and schools.

She also represents Scottish Soroptimists on anti-human trafficking cross-party groups at the Scottish Parliament and gave evidence to the Justice Committee prior to the publication of the Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation Bill in 2015.

“That act is truly making a difference,” she says. “Before, if someone was found to be here illegally, and had probably been trafficked, they would have been treated as a criminal and deported. Since the act, and with the training now given to all the front line services, police, ambulance, hospitals, teachers, awareness of trafficking has been raised and these people will now be seen as what they are – victims of crime.

“And as I said before, it’s not confined to the big cities or the central belt.

“I gave a talk to the WRI in Appin about modern slavery – and found out later, that (nothing to do with my talk) a local hotelier was arrested and charged and jailed for keeping Bangladeshi men as modern slaves in his hotel.

“It happens. It’s here. In our towns, our cities and in our communities. According to the Global Slavery Index there are now 45.8 million slaves in the world. 71% are female – 28% are children.“

Another life-changing event was an invitation to join a group of Tayside Lady Girl Guide leaders on a trip to India.

“I went to Kayakalpa to see the red light district there and I met one of the most incredible people I've ever come across.

“She is Seema Waghmode, a Christian lady who 25 years ago decided to take sexual health clinics to the sex workers.

“As she worked she realised that there were large numbers of children all over the place – children of sex workers who had become pregnant by their clients.

“Seema was looking after 40 children and had developed a plan to take them away from the city to her husband’s farm, where they could be educated, looked after and cared for, away from the slums/brothels.

“To check this out we travelled to actually see the farm for ourselves – and meet her husband. To our relief, everything she said was true.

“Our group of Tayside ladies decided to raise money to help Seema’s dream come true, and within two years we had achieved that.

“In all, around 32 of the 40 children went, because some of the mums wanted to keep their children with them, but now it’s a working farm teaching practical skills and giving an education to these, terribly disadvantaged children.”

Pam and Alan are grateful for the prayerful support for their work from their church family, the Lowson Memorial in Forfar, where they are elders.

“I’m fairly sure, if I weren’t a Christian, and hadn’t had the opportunity to meet the extraordinary people doing extraordinary things that my faith has allowed me to, I probably wouldn’t have done any of this work.”

For more information on Pam’s work or Seema’s charity, visit www.freetolivetrust.org

This is an abridged version of a feature in November's magazine. Subscribe from £1.75 an issue.