Media Release

Dubai, Jan 27: Kanara Entrepreneurs Limited (KEL) UAE, invited the honorable Harold D Souza, an advisory council member at The United States Advisory Council on Human Trafficking, on January 22. Also invited was, Dancy D’Souza, who is an active supporter of the activities in support of human trafficking.

Harold and Dancy D'Souza, hail from Mangaluru and lived a happy life back home in the state of Gujarat, working for well-established organizations. The lure of an American passport and the good life in the promised land of the United States of America, changed their life in ways that we cannot imagine. They were entrapped by an evil, immoral and cruel human being in the guise of a benevolent, good and kind employer. The story born out of this decision, is too harsh and cruel to detail.

And truth be told, Harold, in his speech gave the bare details of the first 18 months of their life at the mercy of this individual. He mentioned a few situations and highlighted some of the frustration and the complete sense of failure, experienced daily whilst he was being victimized. He also stressed the despair and the suicidal tendencies that he experienced. However, this is not what he came to speak about.

Harold and Dancy have a mission and this is to reach out to people the world over and tell them, that human trafficking is a reality and it exists in ways we cannot understand, because we live such comfortable lives here in the Middle East or back home, in our homeland, where ever it maybe. This has led them to visit India and the Middle East, to educate people in the region on human trafficking and how simple and successful people, can be entrapped by unscrupulous agents.

Importantly, Harold wants to support victims who are actually going through victimization, in present times and help them step out of the situation; support them through counseling; support them through his network and help them escape the situation without injury to both mind and body. Towards these causes, Harold and Dancy have set up ‘Eyes Open International’ to help victims of human trafficking.

Harold has also authored a book, ‘Frog in a well- Turning Obstacles into Opportunities’.

Importantly and with great honor, as a recognition of his contribution to this cause, He has been appointed by the US government as an advisor on human trafficking.

The advice that he has imparted is to stay alert and understand that anybody can be a victim of human trafficking. He urges parents who send their children to the USA, or other overseas countries, for education, to be sure that the agency managing their child’s university program is authentic and above reproach. He urges students both male and female to be alert about the many temptations that they are exposed to. He warned students who work in restaurants that they can be unfortunate subjects of these traffickers. He wisely warns girl students to be extremely careful lest they get drawn into a world of sex and sexual crime.

Of course all this would not have been possible without the support of Dancy D'Souza, his wife and mother to his two sons, who have together with their parents tried to pay back to society through their endless work with community services and the upliftment of people in need.

Kanara Entrepreneurs Limited (KEL) UAE and especially chairman Ivan Fernandes was thanked for inviting Harold D Souza, so members and guests learnt firsthand about this despicable crime against humanity.

The Kanara Entrepreneurs Limited is a nonprofit mutual benefit corporation chartered by individuals from the Kanara region in India. It has been founded by successful entrepreneurs to encourage, guide, support and nurture entrepreneurship among individuals originating from the Kanara region.

The audience was filled with imminent personalities and special guest who came to hear Harold speak. The meeting was graced by none other than Dillon M Clancy, economic affairs officer, at the Consulate General of the United States of America.

If anybody knows of any victim of human trafficking and would like to help him/her come out of it, once can reach out to Harold Dsouza, through his NGO, ‘Eyes Open International’.