Stop Girl Trafficking in Nepal

STOP Girl Trafficking prevents girls from being trafficked into slavery or child marriage by keeping them in school. There they are safe to learn, protected from predators, and encouraged by a network of alums, extra teachers, and visibility in their villages. 12,500 at-risk girls go to 500 schools across Nepal every year as part of SGT. 

Sarita was 8 years old, in grade two, when I first met her outside the rundown shack where she lived with her impoverished grandmother and younger brother. Her parents had abandoned her in a brick kiln. Sarita scarcely spoke in school, but she was a bright, spunky girl. She had begun to open up after becoming part of STOP Girl Trafficking. “She has potential, given some care and nurturing,” her teacher told me.

But she did not get care or nurturing. Her grandfather abused her and beat both children so badly that they finally fled 80 miles, somehow, to Kathmandu, hoping to find refuge with an aunt. This aunt was in bad health and couldn’t keep them. But she cared about them and, aware of Sarita’s schooling, called SGT for help.

The staff was looking for a good home for them last spring when I happened to be in their office. We called Childhaven, a children’s home run by wonderful, dedicated people I have known most of my life. They said, “Of course.” 

On our last trip, we stopped by to see Sarita after school. She is 11 now, taller, and she smiled and looked less wary. Her brother, now eight, was still sometimes “naughty” but had made friends. These two children have finally found, with some help, safety and home. Sometimes it takes a village.

Links:

• Learn more about AHF
• Learn more about SGT
• Save the date: Oct 26

STOP Girl Trafficking protects girls from being sold, forced into child marriage or bonded labor, by finding them and keeping them safe in school.

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Imagine this:
You are four. Your father sends you out to buy alcohol late at night. If the store has already closed, he beats you with a cane when you return. He dies from excessive drinking when you are five, leaving you and your mother destitute and alone. She moves to Kathmandu in search of work, and you live in a shelter, struggling with loneliness. Then an SGT field worker finds you and puts you in school, where SGT’s support and counseling keep you safe so you can grow and learn.

Now, in grade 11, as you study to become an engineer, you say, “SGT has given wings to my dream.”

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In the beginning, SGT’s founder, Dr. Aruna Uprety, had to go door to door to persuade parents to allow their daughters to go to school. Girls are the least valued members of the family, and sometimes considered expendable.

Today, SGT has 30,000 girls in school or graduated, educated and looking clear-eyed at the future. And their parents, once doubtful, are proud of them. Aruna’s belief has proven visionary.

Every girl protected is a win: She wasn’t trafficked, trapped in a brothel at twelve, abused and thinking of suicide. Instead, she attends school and graduates to a future of hope and possibility, not dread – becoming one of the young women who are changing Nepal for the better.

Human trafficking is immensely lucrative and pervasive in Nepal. But it only costs $100 to keep a girl in school for a year, learning and safe. She will be grateful to you forever.

Together, we can STOP Girl Trafficking.