LOST DAUGHTERS OF NEPAL-Marc lerner
Enslaved in brothels in India, then abandoned, these girls are being saved by a
remarkable women.
" Tika* has been missing for a week," Pasang Lama* said, showing a photograph of his teenage daughter to a sari-clad women with piercing dark eyes. Anuradha Koirala noted the look of grief on the burly labourer's face. She'd seen that look many times before. Koirala ushered the man into an aged brick building along Kathmandu's airport road. The modest structure is headquarters of Maiti Nepal (Mother's Home Of Nepal)." We'll need details," she said. "Date of birth?Suspicious new friends?Anyone offering jobs?" Pasang Lama had heard about Maiti Nepal's work helping girls who had fallen into the hands of sex traffickers.Desperate he went to see Koirala. "Tika is only 14."he said, panic in his voice. "You dont think she's been taken to a brothel?""Hopefully not," Koirala said, trying to reassure him. "We'll keep the picture and see what we can do."
koirala is considered a saviour of the victims of her country's gravest social problem. Every year thousands of Nepalese girls are sold into sexual slavery in India, in what experts say is
one of the world's largest cross-broder sex trades. "Some of these girls were lured," Koirala says. Others were simply naive, believing stories about arranged marriages or jobs. "A few were freed in raids, but the others were released only when they began to show the symptoms of AIDS. By that point, their own families wont accept them, friends turn their backs." Koirala operates one of the few safe havens available to these women.
NOWHERE TO STAY:
koirala was teaching english and geography in a school in 1992 when she encountered homeless women near kathmandu's Pashupatinath Temple. Some told her their husbands had betrayed them; others were widows or former prostitutes. Few could properly care for their children. Koirala, was separated from her husband, was moved by these women's stories.-and brought several of their youngsters into her small home. For months she operated for a makeshift shelter for street kids. Then, the following summer, friends told her about a frail, sick young woman with nowhere to stay. Shunned by locals in her home village, the young woman was desperate for a home in Kathmandu. Moved by her plight, Koirala decided to take her in.
Her name was Deepa*, and she was a striking 20-year-old with an engaging smile. But her story was terrible.
Deepa grew up in a village in Sindhupalchowk district in north-eastern Nepal. When she was 12, an older cousin took her to Kathmandu, supposedly to visit relatives. But once he got to the city, he sold the child to a brothel owner for 20,000 Nepali reupees(rs 12,600). She was taken to Mumbai, where the fair skin, exotic looks and shy demeanour of Nepalese girls are much in favour among Indian men.
Deepa refused to subm
it and was kept in a windowless room for days, not given any food, and repeatedly beaten and burnt with cigarettes. She had sex with ten men on the first day she was force to work. It was only the beginning-soon it would be 15 or 20, even 30. Rickshaw drivers, soldiers, any ruffian could buy her body for an hour for as little as Rs.50.
It was like that day after day, year after gruelling year, until she got sick with AIDS. When the signs of her illness repelled the brothel's customers, she was sent packing. Koirala took her into her home, nursing her as best she could. "Deepa told me her brothel was run by Shimla Tamang, a Nepalese women who travelled back to Kathmandu for religious festivals," Koirala says. "The thought of her walking around freely, arranging for even more girls, made my blood boil. I promised to put a stop to her crimes."
With the help of a police inspector, Tamang was picked up for questioning the next time she came to Kathmandu. A hardened woman dripping with gold jewellery, Tamag denied any wrongdoing. But Deepa came forward to testify and Shimla Tamang was convicted of violating Nepal's anti-trafficking laws. As word of koirala's work spread, more girls returning from India's brothels found their way to her door.
remarkable women.
" Tika* has been missing for a week," Pasang Lama* said, showing a photograph of his teenage daughter to a sari-clad women with piercing dark eyes. Anuradha Koirala noted the look of grief on the burly labourer's face. She'd seen that look many times before. Koirala ushered the man into an aged brick building along Kathmandu's airport road. The modest structure is headquarters of Maiti Nepal (Mother's Home Of Nepal)." We'll need details," she said. "Date of birth?Suspicious new friends?Anyone offering jobs?" Pasang Lama had heard about Maiti Nepal's work helping girls who had fallen into the hands of sex traffickers.Desperate he went to see Koirala. "Tika is only 14."he said, panic in his voice. "You dont think she's been taken to a brothel?""Hopefully not," Koirala said, trying to reassure him. "We'll keep the picture and see what we can do."
koirala is considered a saviour of the victims of her country's gravest social problem. Every year thousands of Nepalese girls are sold into sexual slavery in India, in what experts say is
one of the world's largest cross-broder sex trades. "Some of these girls were lured," Koirala says. Others were simply naive, believing stories about arranged marriages or jobs. "A few were freed in raids, but the others were released only when they began to show the symptoms of AIDS. By that point, their own families wont accept them, friends turn their backs." Koirala operates one of the few safe havens available to these women.NOWHERE TO STAY:
koirala was teaching english and geography in a school in 1992 when she encountered homeless women near kathmandu's Pashupatinath Temple. Some told her their husbands had betrayed them; others were widows or former prostitutes. Few could properly care for their children. Koirala, was separated from her husband, was moved by these women's stories.-and brought several of their youngsters into her small home. For months she operated for a makeshift shelter for street kids. Then, the following summer, friends told her about a frail, sick young woman with nowhere to stay. Shunned by locals in her home village, the young woman was desperate for a home in Kathmandu. Moved by her plight, Koirala decided to take her in.
Her name was Deepa*, and she was a striking 20-year-old with an engaging smile. But her story was terrible.
Deepa grew up in a village in Sindhupalchowk district in north-eastern Nepal. When she was 12, an older cousin took her to Kathmandu, supposedly to visit relatives. But once he got to the city, he sold the child to a brothel owner for 20,000 Nepali reupees(rs 12,600). She was taken to Mumbai, where the fair skin, exotic looks and shy demeanour of Nepalese girls are much in favour among Indian men.
Deepa refused to subm
it and was kept in a windowless room for days, not given any food, and repeatedly beaten and burnt with cigarettes. She had sex with ten men on the first day she was force to work. It was only the beginning-soon it would be 15 or 20, even 30. Rickshaw drivers, soldiers, any ruffian could buy her body for an hour for as little as Rs.50.It was like that day after day, year after gruelling year, until she got sick with AIDS. When the signs of her illness repelled the brothel's customers, she was sent packing. Koirala took her into her home, nursing her as best she could. "Deepa told me her brothel was run by Shimla Tamang, a Nepalese women who travelled back to Kathmandu for religious festivals," Koirala says. "The thought of her walking around freely, arranging for even more girls, made my blood boil. I promised to put a stop to her crimes."
With the help of a police inspector, Tamang was picked up for questioning the next time she came to Kathmandu. A hardened woman dripping with gold jewellery, Tamag denied any wrongdoing. But Deepa came forward to testify and Shimla Tamang was convicted of violating Nepal's anti-trafficking laws. As word of koirala's work spread, more girls returning from India's brothels found their way to her door.
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