Nepal - former Kingdom in the Himalayas; home to Mt. Everest.....the majority of people there are Hindu. It is, alas, one of the poorest nations on earth due to more factors than I can list - certainly corruption is one, but terrain, lack of education also contributed.
There is a horrible thing going on in Nepal that all should be aware of....it's been happening since the 1970's. Each year over 12,000 Nepalese girls (some as young as age 7) are being "sold" to brothels in India or Nepal by their very own parents. Many times the parents (illiterate) are duped into believing their daughter would be receiving a proper education in India and the ploy is done by such "sophisticated Madames" that the parents have no idea what will really happen to their daughters. And SOMETIMES, sadly, for the equivalent of U.S. $200 parents in Nepal will knowingly SELL their young daughters to "Madames" who will take them to brothels in Mumbai.
EITHER way - it is a road to HELL for these girls!!! Sometimes the Madames are coy enough to coax the girl on the bus with a beautiful doll (which is promptly taken away the moment the bus leaves). Once in Mumbai, these poor girls are thrown into a room where they are deprived meals - sometimes a live cobra is put in the room to SCARE them into conforming. They have no escape. Once in your life you must see the film "The Day My God Died" by Andrew Levine, who has become a friend of mine over the years. Here is one place you may watch the sad film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV5W6F4L5i8
There may be other websites also to watch that film, such as the OFFICIAL one: http://www.thedaymygoddied.com/ Nepalese girls are "requested" often in Indian brothels for their "fairness" of skin. There are only three ways for such Nepalsese girls to ever LEAVE these brothels - if a rare pastor/human rights advocate helps them escape (that is HIGHLY rare), if they DIE from AIDS, or if they become so sick from AIDS that they are no longer "usable" - in which case they are sent by bus to Kathmandu to their PARENTS who....want NOTHING to do with them (treat them as lepers!). There is an organization in Kathmandu called "SnegMaya" which accepts the AIDS-stricken (mostly dying) girls returned to Nepal after years of abuse in Indian brothels. The premise is really sad. My husband and I have donated lots of clothes there.....sometimes the last "cry" of the dying girl is so PITIFUL - she only wishes she could be dressed in a "fancy dress" (usually the one she dies in). We donated over 50 such beautiful dresses each visit, sadly, knowing they would be the girls' last dress.
We NEED to do something about SEX TRAFFICKING!!!! Over 12,000 Nepalese girls are trafficked every year to brothels in India or Nepal and many just die there. This figure is NOT acceptable!!!
There are (sadly) organizations who are also now opposing the legal adoption of Nepalese children.....some of these children WOULD have been sold by their parents to brothels for a mere $200. It is a difficult balance - of course, we want to make sure all adoptions of orphans are indeed orphans - but sometimes the biological parents of such children weigh the monetary outcome: Adoption to North American homes or....sending the child to a brothel in India.
It is difficult to believe that such horrible things exist in our day and age!
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