Shillong, June 30: Bela, Rita and Rouma (names changed) could easily pass off as giggly teenagers living life to the fullest. But beneath their smiling faces lie tales of struggle to break the shackles of exploitation.

Rescued separately from Delhi and Shillong, where they were forced into bondage and sexually exploited, the three girls are now on a mission to show countless others how to fight such exploitation and live life again.

The trio has been moving from one locality of the Meghalaya capital to another, conducting ?capacity-building classes? and an ?open-house awareness campaign? for streetchildren.

The programme is backed by the countrywide Campaign against Child Trafficking,

Bela, 17, and Rita, 16, play the roles of motivator and trainer, while Rouma, 13, gives the streetchildren tips on acting. All three underwent training in fine arts, sculpting, theatre and voluntary work at the Bornfree Art School in Bangalore recently.

Impulse NGO, which is the state convener of the Campaign against Child Trafficking, had sent the three girls to the World Social Forum meet in Bangalore last year and to Bornfree Art School later to make them both independent and capable of using creativity as a tool to reach out to other victims of exploitation.

?We enjoy our roles as we seem to connect very well with people. That is perhaps because of our experience of the bad and the good,? says Bela, the most outspoken of the spunky trio.

The ?changeover?, as Impulse NGO president Hasina Kharbhih puts it, began with Bela, who was subjected to sexual exploitation at a very young age. A native of Arunachal Pradesh, Bela was taken to New Delhi in 1996 to work as a domestic help and later sold to a brothel. The trauma did not end even after her rescue last year.

Disowned by her family, Bela was rudderless until Impulse NGO stepped in to give her a new lease of life. She is employed as a teacher-cum-trainer in embroidery and bag-making in one of projects of Impulse NGO. Determined to strike out on her own, she already has a tailoring shop in Shillong, where she makes recycled paper and cloth bags.

Rita and Rouma have similar stories to narrate. Both were working in homes in Shillong and faced sexual oppression. Rouma and her younger brother were sold off by their father to a wealthy resident of Shillong. The girl was sexually exploited during her stay there. After her rescue, Bela motivated her to take a bold stand against her exploiters.

Rita is from Shillong, while Rouma hails from a village near Guwahati in neighbouring Assam. Rouma and her brother now stay at a Shillong Childline shelter, but both Bela and Rita live on their own.

?They have become role models for those who are prepared to listen to them and change their lives,? says Kharbhih.