News and Updates

Empowering Nepalese Girls - A Report from the Field
By Jenn Weede

Home to the highest place on Earth-looming, luring, sometimes lethal Mount Everest-Nepal's geography reflects life's extremes. The highest of highs meet the lowest of lows. Just as the peaks, rooted in the valleys, rise up to the sky, the spirit of the Nepalese rises given any chance to soar. Boulder-based Free A Child (FAC) is more than a wing and a prayer. The proven programs, fueled by love, passion, respect and dignity, are making a real difference in thousands of lives.

In January 2004, FAC's president of the board of directors, Kenlyn Kolleen embarked on a journey of exploration to the heart of FAC's efforts to prevent and end child trafficking and uplift human dignity. With a clear focus on auditing current programs, learning more about FAC's partner agency General Welfare Pratisthan (GWP), working with GWP's executive director, Mahesh Bhattarai, assessing current political issues, and considering future opportunities, Kolleen returned with affirmation and inspiration.

"It's really a complex issue, and I love that we're part of the solution and that we're working at the root cause to stop it," Kolleen says. "It's gratifying to go to Nepal and see these girls totally empowered. Now they don't fall prey to the lures of child sex traffickers because they're different people now."

As if on cue to reinforce FAC's mission and magnitude, shortly after her return from Nepal, New York Times Magazine ran a feature story on child trafficking. (Jan 25, 2004 by Peter Landesman)

It is easy to falter under the weight of the truth. About a million children are forced into sexual slavery each year. The average age of sex slaves has fallen to age 10 to 14. As many as two-thirds of them become infected with HIV/AIDS. Kolleen, however, quickly discovered how far a flicker of hope can go.

"Seeing first-hand the change in the lives of the girls and women FAC has touched and totally inspired me. Our girls and women stood out-they were empowered. They were confident. They held their heads high. They laughed a lot," Kolleen said. "Conversely, traveling through other villages where FAC did not have a program, the people looked entirely different. They didn't smile. They seemed burdened by life; edgier. I realized that when you empower a woman or a young girl, you change the entire system. Empowered women take care of their children-feed them, educate them, pay for their medicines-because they can. They've learned that they are in charge of their lives. That seems fundamental, but poverty can shake this out of a person. I am not saying that Free A Child does all of this; it doesn't have to. All that's needed is to light the initial spark. It's within each of us to do the rest. That's the beauty of it. We simply provide tools; they free themselves."

The golden keys FAC uses are basic: education and economic opportunities to empower indigenous people to solve their own problems. Partnering with indigenous organizations that share core values, programs include peer-to-peer education, local girls' clubs, street dramas and a micro-economic loan program. In effect since 1998, these programs have impacted thousands in rural villages.

"I visited some of these villages and saw our programs in action. Although there are other, flashier programs in Nepal that receive more press and funding, we feel that lasting change is created at the grass-roots level. The problem in these rural villages is economic. Traffickers go into villages because they know that people need money and often do not ask a lot of questions when presented with a chance to make money," explained Kolleen.

But FAC's efforts are making a world of difference. One young woman in a village told Kollen how she and her friends from the girls' club ran a trafficker out of town. They assessed his offer to work in India and collectively decided it was a sham. They confronted him together, saying "If the job pays so well, why don't you take it? You look like you need the money," and told him to leave the village.

This empowerment, coupled with strategic economic opportunity, is changing the face of Nepal's people. They are brighter.

FAC's success in Nepal convinced Kolleen that FAC could and should expand its network of resources and programs to help children imprisoned as sex slaves in the U.S. FAC is now investigating how to apply the same model of working with nonprofit organizations with key skills and insights, such as peer to peer education and community outreach, to create a whole, integrated solution for the teen homeless shelters and high schools in this country.