Desperate Girls

The Badi Girls

Between 7,000 and 12,000 young girls, aged 9-16, are trafficked each year from Nepal; mainly to India. According to Nepal Monitor/On line journal, 2007, there are more than 200,000 Nepali girls in Indian brothels.

The Dalits(untouchables) are the lowest level in Hindu society, and the Badi community, in Western Nepal, are the lowest of the low. As a displaced hungry people group the Badi community has made sexual subservience a way of life. Young girls from this group “serve” other groups. This has become a tradition and means of livelihood. Many girls, even when they are unwilling, are forced to serve as sex slaves. Family members knowingly sell their daughters to traffickers.

Though prostitution is illegal in Nepal, the industry reportedly has links with highly ranked officials and political leaders. Large groups of girls are taken across the border with many police and government officials being in collusion with traffickers and brothel owners.

Traffickers and related criminals are often protected by political parties, and if arrested, are freed using political power. As a result, there is an underlying distrust of police that has led people not to file cases against traffickers.

Domestic action involves activities of NGO’s and other volunteer groups. These groups are playing a major role to address girl-trafficking and sex slaves issues. Some NGO’s are playing a very important role to improve the situation. From creating social awareness to rescuing and rehabilitation, they are providing services (and relief) to those that need it the most – the likely victims as well as the rescued ones. The Lighthouse foundation is one of these.

*See Chandra Kala’s story on this blog site.

Sunday 13 January 2013

Saturday Church

Saturday - we went off to another church at one of the hostels and saw some more of our girls.  It was very cramped but freezing.  Then in the afternoon , we went to Tusal for one of our Australian sponsors   who  came all this way to met Ruth.  It was a very teary meeting, and then they sat a chatted for a couple of hours.  Lyn and her daughter Katie have flown out this morning to the place "Garbage River" where the girls come from just to get an idea of how they lived before they came here.  Grahame has gone also with three other men who are working on the micro financing programme.  They will be gone till the evening of the 15th.  So Miriam and I are here by ourselves.  Miriam has worked so hard in the past two weeks, so today we are having a girl day and going into Thamel, the tourist area, for a bit of a look around and lunch at the Garden of Dream  Miriam flies home tomorrow so tomorrow night I am home alone.  I need to start trying to pack up our stuff (there is lots of it) as we will be moving on the 20th into our new guest house, that is if the current tenants have moved ( I know Nepal and how things work)

Robyn
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)