According to the US State Department, about 10.000 to 15.000 women and girls from Nepal are trafficked to India and then sexually exploited each year.
Geeta was 9 years old when she started painting provocatively, staying awake until 2 in the morning and being forced to have sex with 60 men a day. "I was really sad and frustrated by what was happening in my life," he told CNN in 2010.
The 35-year-old woman, the daughter of poor peasants in Nepal, was sold to a brothel in India by a family member who had deceived her visually impaired mother into believing she would work in a Nepal garment factory.
"The owner of the brothel was verbally abusing us, and if we did not comply with what she told us but also the wishes of the clients, then she would hit us with cables, sticks and even hot spoons."
The little girl experienced her own hell for five years, until at the age of 14 a police officer rescued her, taking her to a safe environment for battered girls of the non-profit organization Maiti Nepal. Behind the charity, which has been fighting for 26 years to rescue and rehabilitate thousands of victims of white meat trafficking in Nepal, the "Mother Teresa of Nepal».
According to Anuradha Koirala, "girls' families are constantly deceived, while girls are trafficked by people close to them."
By raiding brothels, patrolling the India-Nepal border and providing safe housing and psychological support, Koirala and Maiti Nepal have helped rescue and rehabilitate more than 18.000 young women and girls since 1993.
Who is the "Mother Teresa of Nepal"
Born on April 14, 1949 in Nepal, Anuradha Koirala, also known as Diiju, is one of India 's most popular activists, also known as "Mother Teresa of Nepal".
Inspired by the humanitarian and missionary work of the catholic nun, hence her name "Mother Teresa of Nepal", Koirala felt from a very young age that the purpose of her life was to serve her fellow human beings. In fact, her personal story - and herself abused by her husband with three miscarriages in her history due to beatings - was what motivated her to become more active and more active regarding abused women.
Saving $ 100 from her monthly salary, working as an English teacher at a Nepalese school, she set up a retail store to hire victims of sex slavery and domestic violence.
In the early 90s, growing demand for help and persistent cases of violence against women forced Koirala to do more. Thus, the Maiti Nepal organization, founded in 1993, was its spiritual "child" for providing voice, legal protection and rehabilitation to victims of sexual slavery.
The work of Maiti Nepal
The name "Maiti Nepal" literally means "mother's house". With the organization having facilities in various areas Nepal and India, most of her work takes place on the central campus of Kathmandu, the capital and largest city of Nepal.
According to Koirala on CNN, "most girls come to us from brothels empty-handed, sick, often pregnant or with young children and mentally damaged."
Most of them need time to adjust, gain confidence and finally talk about everything they have experienced as sex slaves. "They are scared at first, but eventually they reveal everything to us on their own," adds Koirala.
In addition to sex slaves, the organization also accepts victims of rape and domestic violence, as well as abandoned children.
The organization's facilities accommodate up to 400 women and children, while the work requires a large number of staff, which includes teachers, consultants and medical staff.
Several staff members are survivors of sexual exploitation rescued by Maiti Nepal, now committed to helping rehabilitate other girls. As for the money required for the proper functioning of the organization? These come from grants and donations from around the world.
The rehabilitation of girls
Rehabilitation after the rescue of the girls is complete in Maiti Nepal, where complete is provided medical care, psychological support and legal services, with formal court statements and prosecutions, all of which are provided free of charge.
While some girls can return to their families, most of them - and especially those infected with HIV or AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases - become socially stigmatized and find it harder to reintegrate into society and even be accepted. from their families. In these cases Maiti Nepal becomes their new, perhaps last, home, providing them with everything.
"The hardest part for me is watching a girl die or come here sick at an age where all she had to worry about was playing. "These situations make me want to work even harder and more efficiently," Mother Teresa of Nepal told CNN.
The organization's ultimate goal is to help battered girls eventually become financially independent and reintegrate into society smoothly.
Prevention and information of society as a whole
In addition to the restoration work, Koirala along with at least 50 women rescued from sex trafficking Participate in a community-based outreach program on the campus of Kathmandu, informing and educating families in rural villages and slums in Nepal about the dangers of sex trafficking, and conducting daily patrols at border crossings. Nepal, successfully rescuing, on average, almost on a daily basis four girls.
Geeta's recovery is one of the organization's successes. Today he works in Maiti Nepal as a teacher, while also helping the organization's awareness groups. She gives Koirala and Maiti Nepal the strength she has found to live on, as well as the confidence and courage to join the fight against sex trafficking.
"Anuradha is a hero. She is courageous. "He gave me back my faith, and if Maiti Nepal was not there for me, I would be dead today," Geeta said of "Mother Teresa of Nepal."