Nivasa Foundation

Beatrice Fernando is a survivor of slavery. After answering an ad for a local agency looking to employ housemaids, she took a job in Lebanon. She wanted to make enough money to provide for her young son in Sri Lanka. But her employment agency was running a corrupt scheme to lure young people into slavery. When Beatrice arrived at the home of her supposed employers, she was forced to surrender her passport, work twenty hour days, and was never paid. She was forbidden to leave the house. The woman of the house beat her and refused her anything to eat. Desperate to escape her captors, Beatrice made a decision she thought might mean the end of her life.

She jumped off a fourth floor balcony to escape. She lived, but she soon realized that she was paralyzed. Today, Beatrice lives in Massachusetts and is able to walk and function normally. But Beatrice realized her story is not unique. Finally able to tell her life's story, she published her memoir in a book entitled In Contempt of Fate and published a chapter in Enslaved, an anthology of contemporary slave narratives. She also founded Nivasa Foundation, an organization with a mission to end the enslavement she suffered.