Nepal is known worldwide as a serene silent country surrounded by the highest mountains with fluttering prayer flags. Religious tolerance and harmony such as is found in Nepal, perhaps a unique example to the world.
But there is another side of the story that Nepal is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. About one-quarter of the Nepalese population is currently living below the poverty line.
Nepal is also mainly a source country for young girls and children subjected to sex trafficking. UNICEF reports that as many as 7,000 women and girls are trafficked annualy from Nepal across the border where they are sold into Indian brothels and forced to become prostitutes where some of them are brought to Kathmandu Massage Salons and Cabin Restaurants.
Although many of these girls are kidnapped from small villages and towns in Nepal, many of them are also sold outright by their own families for money. Most girls who are trafficked are from very poor families from villages where they or their families are lured by false marriages, or the promises of employment or education. Especially 2015 eartquake most impacted the already poor - and poorly educated - communities. Damaged rural schools were closed so parents wanted to send their children to Kathmandu for education. Families whose homes have been destroyed are desperate for cash and vulnerable children have been left alone at risk.
These girls are as young as 7 years old and as old as 24 years old, although the average age has remained about 15. The younger she is, the higher the price she will be sold for. Virgins are the most valued; as it is believed that a virgin from Nepal can cure an AIDS victim.
Their life in these brothels are full of disease where they stand a high chance of contracting an STD or even AIDS. Murder is common, as is abuse and beatings. To their captors, they are a mere commodity, with a short shelf life.
In March 2017, with the collaboration of the local NGO “Mercy Nepal” I have traveled to the most remote western villages of Nepal which are also very close to the open India border where no control for trafficking is possible. I have met many girls who are desperate, hopeless and uneducated, trapped in their poor and lonely houses, who are only dreaming and admiring a better life in big cities. I have met families whose daughters are missing, they never heard of them since then or vice versa children whose parents are left for good and they are now taken care by their grandparents. I have visited damaged and poor so called schools where education is far from to be a hope for a bright future for students. Then I have seen many massage salons in Kathmandu where trafficked girls are forced to prostitution. I have seen the problem starts with a lack of education, awareness and living standards and may improve by building them for these families.
*Shot in Kohalpur, Bardia, Badi, Kathmandu and many remote villages in Nepal in March 2017.
