A dirt floored hut, made of tarps and plastic, is Heera’s home. It is built on another’s land, alongside other shacks and dwellings. Some are more substantial made of straw and mud with a roof that can keep the rain out, but Heera’s family aren’t so lucky. This street is called the Girl’s Bazaar – a row of shacks with small rooms tacked on the back where girls as young as 12 have been sold by their fathers or brothers to be sex slaves.

Heera’s father has the power to order the same for his eldest daughter, but her mother sends her to school instead. For Heera, school is only a place to get one good meal a day, as food at home is scarce. She doesn’t enjoy school except for thoughts of the lunchtime meal, as her friend Rosy has left and now alone, Heera is bullied and laughed at for her filthy bare feet and one change of clothes.

Her family is part of one of India’s lowest caste, only getting menial jobs, if at all, leading to prostitution of girls and women being the only way to survive. Salman, Heera’s older brother; knows what is needed to rise out of their squalor and works hard at his studies. He alone in the family believes there is a way out. Their father (Baba), is an alcoholic and a gambler, believing they are where they are supposed to be and there is no other option. This has made him mean, greedy and unfeeling towards any of his children, and Heera feels it the most. She accepts his view of the world and that it is normal for him to have half their food, and most of her mother’s wages for alcohol and gambling.

But her mother is stronger than she looks, and along with a local girl’s hostel and the woman called Rini Di who runs it, Heera sees another possible way of life for herself. She is fascinated to watch the girls in white uniforms doing some sort of training – all in unison. Punching and kicking the air with balance and precision. Heera learns this is Kung Fu – an ancient martial art. When she is given a book by a man called Bruce Lee, her world begins to open up and she finds a way to see her body differently. It is not to be controlled and sold by others.

It is hard for Heera to trust the words of Rini Di. She says there is government money for girls like her. She says she can go to school and learn, eat well, and even train in the art of Kung Fu. Convincing her father to let her do it is part of the battle, along with avoiding a man who wants to sell her to sex trafficking dance troupes.

Can she believe Rini Di’s promises? Can she leave her mother behind to work and look after her younger siblings after tragedy has struck. Can she believe in herself to follow the teachings of Bruce Lee?

Working incredibly hard, Heera finally sees the possibility of rising above her endless poverty, illiteracy and sex trafficking future and pulling her family up with her.

A sobering, eye-opening, powerful read. Millions of people are victims of human trafficking across the world every year. Based on real people and events, I Kick and I Fly brings this second largest organised crime of the world to readers through a fictional character named Heera.

Heera is a fierce, determined character, slowly morphing from someone who just went to school for the lunchtime meal into the strongest person in her family, helping them rise from their terrible existence.

The more I read, the more I was drawn in to the terrible life Heera lived. The threat of sexual exploitation by her own father hangs over Heera’s head, and has done ever since she learned about it as a young child, but her mother, despite her soul destroying and back breaking job, does all she can to save her daughter from her neighbour’s and cousin’s fate. This threat is a heavy presence throughout the novel through community and cultural expectations, violence and corruption.

I Kick and I Fly alerts us all to what is happening across the world daily, and gives us insights into the organisations that are saving people every day. The author’s own journey from English Lit Gradate to Journalist to an Emmy Award winning Documentary “The Selling of Innocents” has led her into building her own organisation to fight human trafficking.

A letter from the author at the rear of the book shares her own journey and where the character of Heera came from.

There are also additional resources that answer questions, and provides a list of organisations offering comprehensive services to sex trafficking survivors.

Author – Ruchira Gupta

Age – 14+

Learn more about the author and her important work / Read an Excerpt of I Kick and I Fly / here

(2023, Allen & Unwin, Action, Bullies, Courage, Crime, Family, Friendship, Growing up, Poverty, School, Secret, India, Caste System, Human Trafficking, Traffickers, Child Sex Trade, Child Prostitution, Corruption, Kidnapping, Violence, Kung Fu, Hostel, Bruce Lee, Competitions, Training, Study, Determination, Grief, Hope, A way out, Based on truth, Protection, Love, Siblings, Bullying, Fighting back, Powerful, Stunning, Sobering)