Once a hockey player with the Customs, Anson Thomas has devoted himself to social work and has rescued hundreds of girls over the years from the clutches of brothel owners and pimps.
Once a hockey player with the Customs, Anson Thomas has treaded a long distance. Having devoted himself to social work, Anson Thomas has often put his life at stake and rescued hundreds of girls over the years from the clutches of brothel owners and pimps.
The hockey player, who took voluntary retirement from his service, is here at the Village to render his services to the athletes as a helping hand at the Religious Centre.
“Being a sportsman myself I understand an athlete’s psyche and I understand the pain and agony when someone gets injured or he/she loses and then I come forward, console him/her, counsel them and take them closer to God’s teachings. This soothes everyone and works well as people get going after this,” said Anson.
Reminiscing his journey into the work, which has put his life in danger many times, Hanson said, “I first went to Kamathipura (red light area) of Mumbai in 1991 and since then am into this. I have rescued more than 650 girls from the clutches of these bad people and I won’t stop till my last breath,” said stating that though he was a descent player, destiny took him into the criminal alleys and God helped taking on the brothel owners and pimps to rescue women and girls from forced prostitution.
“I was once a good hockey player and then I realized that I can use hockey as an inspiration in the red-light areas of Mumbai. I brought the game closer to kids over there and made them move away from prostitution. The result of which is that today a lot of them who would have turned into pimps and prostitutes, study and are doing good in their life,” said the man with the mission.
Whenever Anson finds an opportunity, he takes well known sports stars alongside him in these areas for children to know what kind of life they can lead by studying, playing good sports.
“I have also taken great sport stars like Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Hudson, Joel Garner and many others to these areas so that they can interact with these kids and the kids get to meet their stars,” said the man who was awarded the Mahatma Gandhi award for social justice in 2003.
The man says that it was God who led him into this mission. He was not always set out to do this.
“Once on 2nd of October, Gandhi Jayanti, I and a few friends went out for a picnic at Lonavla. Since it was the Mahatma’s birthday, we could not get drinks but somehow we managed a few bottles of beer. When the Father of my church came to know about this, he confronted me and I felt insulted. But then I understood that drinks is my weakness and I gave it up,” said Anson.
“I knelt down in front of God, confessed, said sorry and then God kind of led me into this. I started off with working with a few hospitals that had drug addicts, HIV positive patients and from there I got into rescue work,” Anson continued.
Having started from Mumbai, today whenever Anson travels to Delhi or Kolkata, he goes to the prominent red-light areas of these cities and does rescue operations. The man is not afraid to walk through these areas and is often recognized as someone who always carries a Bible.
“The danger is always there even if you rescue one girl and I have rescued over 600. They were after my life, trying to finish me off and my family was also under threat, but I am not scared. I fear God and no human being because man can just kill the body, its God who can kill the soul and put it in hell. Yes there is concern of family but I trust God and I know he will be my leading light always,” said Anson.
Courtesy: Village News
By, Rohit Sakunia
