Empowerment

July 24, 2011

I traveled all the way across the world to discover again that all smiles are the same smiles, that our hearts are the same fragile beating hearts.  Our fear is the same fear, our dreams the same.  I was in a remote one-road village at the top of Nepal’s mountains last week, and had the chance to get to know 22 incredible girls over the course of a few days.  All from poor village families with little chance of escaping from their economic problems.  Yet Maiti Nepal helped them and brought them to this beautiful sanctuary, a prevention home where they are taught income generation and activism skills, and encouraged to return to their villages and teach other girls about empowerment.  I am so inspired by the courage and resilience of the girls and women of the hill region of Nepal.  They live in very difficult conditions- the top of the mountains with nothing but dirt road practically destroyed by monsoon rains.  They walk for hours a day to carry plants, water, and vegetables on their backs. Some walk for days to reach other villages. The basic things we take for granted- roads, drinking water and food- are not a given in these rural areas.  And women are the backbone of families here- they do most of the household work and are strong as steel. 

Yet many of them lack access to safety, many do not have a chance to complete their schooling (mostly due to poverty), and many are at risk for sexual exploitation in a business that is turning into one of the most profitable international businesses worldwide.  Traffickers count on their desperate poverty and lack of skills to lure them away from their families by promising them lucrative jobs.  This is the very subject matter that brought me to Nepal.  I want these girls to receive a tangible education and a real solution to the debilitating hunger. If their families are presented with an alternative way of generating an income they will feel less inclined to send their daughters to earn money; instead they will send their daughters to school.  Girls want to study but are unable to do so due to a lack of basic necessities for their family members.