Jessie Crawley: Take every child as your daughter

A couple of months ago, my friend introduced me to a organisation called Maiti Nepal. Founded by Anuradha Koirala in 1993 along with teachers, journalists and social workers, Maiti Nepal was "born out of crusade to protect Nepali girls & women from crimes such as domestic violence, trafficking for flesh trade, child prostitution, child labour and various forms of abuse, exploitation and torture".

You can find out their history and further detail of what they do by checking out their website www.maitinepal.org. I have been amazed learning about the depth of their work. These people save women and children from horrific circumstances and give them a new life including education and job opportunities - but most importantly a HOME. They empower these individuals to have a value of self worth regardless of what they have been put through and encourage them to hold a positive outlook for their future.

More than 15000 women and children are trafficked from Nepal each year, some as young as 7 years old. 150000 - 300000 Nepalese girls age 7-24 are currently estimated to be in brothels in India forced to serve up to 50 men a day. Maiti Nepal raids brothels to rescue victims and identify traffickers.

They also work to shut down these barbaric trades too, to date Maiti Nepal have 357 rape cases prosecuted, 1200 traffickers convicted and have intercepted 30000 women and girls from potential risk of trafficking with their education and community outreach programmes.

As well as 38 national and international awards, in 2010, Anuradha was declared a CNN Hero as a result of her compassion and fight against human trafficking. She is a truly inspiring individual who I have loved learning more about. Her words have touched the heart of many and the title of this blog post is taken from something I heard her say in the film 'The day my God died'. I urge you to watch it, although emotional.

equALL is teaming up with club night Aberboomtique on the 12th of Aug'16 in Aberdeen for a joint fundraising and awareness night for Maiti Nepal. With the mighty Aberboomtique atmosphere and music we will also have local stall owners including fair trade clothing, face painting, raffle with amazing prizes, party games and guaranteed glitter.