UNDERSTAND THE ISSUES
Gender is the single strongest determinant of school participation among rural youth in Nepal. Young girls are less likely to receive an education than boys, and if they do, less likely to make it to secondary school.
OUR PRIORITY AREAS
Sita is from a poor family in the rural district of Sindhulpalchowk in Nepal. One of five, her childhood was one of long days of hard manual labour. In search of better opportunities, Sita moved to Kathmandu to work in a carpet factory. After some months, the carpet factory owner promised better work, taking her and her friend to a town in India near the Nepali border, leaving them with a woman and promising to return with Sita’s parents.
When we reached the woman's house we found that she was not a good woman but a brothel owner. She told us everything about our work and threatened us that if we don't work there she will shift us to a different brothel. We didn't have any way to get out from there and were compelled to work there even though it was a hell-like life.
Sita spent three years in the brothel, eventually escaping with the help of a customer. The next years of her life were marked by isolation, discrimination and abuse, falling pregnant to a policeman, who later deserted her.
I refused to go back because the village people would never accept me when they knew everything about me.
Sita struggled to re-establish her life in Nepal and find employment to support her child.
Now, with the help of an NGO, Sita has started her own business, which she hopes will generate the income to send her son to school.
Now, with the help of an NGO, Sita has started her own business, which she hopes will generate the income to send her son to school.
Adapted from Asha Nepal’s A Sense of Direction
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