rescuing nepali daughters

In the last 18 years, one non-profit group has helped to rescue and rehabilitate over 12,000 girls and women from sexual slavery.

ON the Nepalese non-profit organisation Maiti’s website (maitinepal.org) are articles on the many awards bestowed on its director, Anuradha Koirala, and visits by VIPS, including ambassadors and representatives from the World Bank.

But there is no mistaking Maiti’s core mission, for there are just as many reports on rescued girls and apprehended traffickers. The site documents the girls’ stories – how they were forced into sex work – and sometimes even discloses the full address of the brothel where they were enslaved.

No names are given, but their individual stories are told. There are the two rescued girls who have “happily decided to join school”, and those who sold their gold nose studs for bus fare to Kathmandu in search of a more glamorous life.

Stories of courage abound, like that of Kanchi, who recognised the man who trafficked her years ago at a queue in a hospital and quickly alerted the police. That led to the arrest of the trafficker and three members of his gang.