Multiple Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Ben Harper sang and played the guitar in an old church in New York while Hollywood actress and television personality Serinda Swan skydived 18,000ft in Canada to raise money for a corner of Kalighat fighting human trafficking.

Urmi Basu, founder of the Kalighat-based NGO New Light that strives to protect women and children in red-light areas, had no inkling when she met Ben for the first time some years ago in Barcelona that the American celebrity would one day help her cause in every way possible.

The seeds of mutual admiration were sown when Ben’s partner, actress-producer Jaclyn Matfus, came for voluntary work at New Light four years ago. The trip to Calcutta, Jaclyn recalled, produced a “strong connection with Urmi and the children of New Light”.

“I felt an immediate need for attention to the boys. I spent Christmas and New Year with the kids and they danced to a song by Ben. I made a video of that and sent it to Ben who was very moved,” she said.

The video won Ben’s heart. “The video clip of the New Light girls dancing to my song She’s Got Kick… I was inspired to learn more,” he said.

Then in May 2013, Urmi got a chance to attend Ben’s 20th anniversary concert in California. “Spending time backstage with him and his mother, who is also a musician, was very special. He gave a shout-out to New Light at the concert and dedicated a song,” she said.

Ben, who won his third Grammy this year for the Best Blues album (Get Up!), recalled: “And from the moment I met Urmi I knew I wanted to be involved in helping New Light.”

All this while Jaclyn, Ben and Urmi had been discussing the possibilities of bringing the Grammy winner for a charity concert in Calcutta but the star’s tours kept him away.

The man who gave his voice for soundtracks of I Am Sam and Vampire Diaries finally held a concert on September 19 at the New York Society for Ethical Culture in New York, the proceeds of which went directly to New Light to help build Khela Ghar, a safe home for the boys from Kalighat.

Tickets for the show sold out in two hours and more than 800 guests attended the fundraiser.

Khela Ghar is slated for a November 14 or Children’s Day launch on the southern fringe of Calcutta.

“Its important to give the girls the right care and at the same time there’s a real need for the boys as well. Ben understands that and came up with the idea for a concert,” Jaclyn said.

Ben, known for setting to song Maya Angelou’s I’ll Rise, chose 20 songs that he felt would resonate with the organisation. “I try to give my audience an enjoyable experience while paying attention to the cause at hand. I find it incredibly heartbreaking that any person should have to endure any sexual exploitation. I believe this to be 21st century slavery and it needs to be eradicated at all cost. I’m especially interested in bringing awareness to the boys in this horrific epidemic. It has always been a hope in my heart for there to be equality between genders and shining a light on the boys brings about the change for both sexes,” he said.

The initiative sheds light on the fact that young boys are much vulnerable to trafficking as girls and women because they form the nucleus of cheap labour at varied workplaces such as teashops, food stalls, car repair shops and hazardous environments like construction sites.

According to Urmi, these boys become bonded slaves, with little or no opportunity to escape, and are exploited sexually as well. “Some are sold into orphanages for conversion,” she said.

“It (Khela Ghar) is a shelter that plans to offer holistic development opportunity to boys who have little to look forward to in their lives, have zero opportunity and incredible stigma to fight because of their past. For most of them the natural progression in life is from abuse to exploitation to violence and finally to crime. We cannot have a better world for our girls till we begin a conversation with the boys,” Urmi explained.

She said Khela Ghar would provide safety, education, life-skill training and self-esteem building exercise to the boys, most of whom grow up to be traffickers or pimps because of the lack of opportunities.

Canadian actress and humanitarian Serinda’s association with New Light began with a recommendation from a friend. “My friend recommended that I look into the work New Light was doing and I was blown away.”

“I immediately hopped on the phone with Urmi and started a conversation on how we could help. The work that she is doing to break the cycle through love and education is unparalleled, I’m so proud to have her as one of our beneficiaries.”

Serinda plays Amanda — lead Uday Chopra’s blonde girlfriend before he finds his desi love — in the 2005 Bollywood release Neal ‘n’ Nikki. Besides roles in Tron: Legacy, The Breakup Artist and television programmes like Smallville and Graceland, she is known for charitable works with the Somaly Mam Foundation, the UN Foundation and as the founding ambassador for Friends to Mankind.

She was drawn to the fight against trafficking three years ago. “I watched a documentary on sex trafficking on CNN and that changed my life. I had no idea of the number of women and children being sold into this horrific industry and it blew my world apart. I grabbed a backpack and booked plane tickets to Malaysia, Cambodia, and Thailand to see how I could help, or at least become a voice for the cause,” she said.

Serinda spent a month travelling and one of the organisations she met in Cambodia needed $18,000 for transporting girls to safety after rescuing them from brothels. “It was the least I could do. I went home to LA and started trying to figure out how to raise $18, 000 in 12 days because I was starting a new job,” she said.

“I was sitting at breakfast with a dear friend telling him my dilemma when he told me that North America’s highest skydive was 18,000ft. I wondered if I was willing to throw myself out of a plane so high and if people would donate a dollar a foot. That’s how 18 for 18 came about and they did. Since its inception in 2012, we had raised over $3,00,000 and reached over 50 million people with our campaign against sex trafficking through social media and print. We have had jumps in Vancouver (Canada), Los Angeles, New York and Australia.”

“It’s important to me because I have seen the faces of the victims. They didn’t make a bad choice or do anything different than I have in my life. It’s just that I was born in Vancouver… my voice was never taken away because of the geographic lottery I won at birth and feel its important to use it now to bring awareness to this cause and help in any way I can.”

The motto of 18 for 18 is “one day, one goal, one jump”.

“Choose to face your fears one day a year and represent the millions of women and children that face theirs every day without choice,” she said. Her skydives had raised over $1,00,000 in nine days this year.

“The funds will be split between three organisations that we feel are leading the fight to end sex trafficking and New Light is one of them,” she said.

Serinda is excited about a trip to Calcutta towards the end of the year. “I can’t wait to go down and meet Urmi and the children,” she said.