In the fourth part of the CNN documentary "Nepal's Stolen Children" today, Hollywood star Demi Moore shares with us the heartbreaking story of a former sex slave called 'Geetha,' who has been rescued from the hands of human traffickers for seven years, but is still paying a heavy price, both mentally and physically, because of her past ordeal.
It was wonderful and amazing to sit in a room with so many survivors and yet at the same time extremely painful.
The power of their voices that outsiders don't often really get a chance to hear, because we need to hear their stories; we need to know that they're not just a statistic.
I think the incredible beauty was in seeing what Anuradha, who herself is a survivor of domestic abuse, the power of a survivor-led organization, and what I found is that those seem to be the most effective.
Anuradha founded Maiti Nepal in 1993, with her 100-dollar-a-month teaching salary.
From humble beginnings, it has grown into a nationwide non-profit organization, housing and protecting up to 100 women everyday at its main complex in Kathmandu.
The center provides counseling, training and legal assistance to help prosecute cases against traffickers,
and there is a school for about 300 children from new born babies to teenagers, some of whom were trafficked along with their mothers and others who were rescued from the streets before they could fall into the hands of traffickers.
Twelve kilometers north of Kathmandu lies a different aspect of the care provided by Maiti Nepal's team: the hospice.
The scars of human trafficking are never merely skin-deep and the pain and suffering often extends to future generations.
Amid this seemingly idyllic image of rural family life, there's another morning routine to be performed, one which casts a darker complexion on the picture.
This is the daily lineup for medicine, without which many of these women and children would die.
They all carry the HIV virus, and many have other related illnesses, in most cases a legacy of time served under slavery in the brothel.
The medicine is expensive, and Maiti Nepal struggles to maintain the supply of life-saving drugs.
It was here at the hospice I met Geetha and heard her story.
"She is Geetha, and Geetha has been with us for the last seven years and she was rescued from India, from Delhi with her son. She was trafficked with her son."
Geetha's story is a familiar tale of trust and betrayal, an orphan lured to India by the false hope of finding her parents, but instead finding herself in a life of hell.
"So she was twelve years old. She's been married off at ten.
Abused, she's had a baby. And now she's being forced into prostitution.
And so how long was she enslaved in the brothels before she was rescued?"
"For two years she was in the brothel, and then she was again rescued as a minor."
Geetha is living with HIV, following her time in brothels where condoms were not allowed. Fortunately the virus was not passed on to her son, but the heartbreaking consequence means the two live largely separate lives, with Geetha at the medical center and her son at Maiti Nepal's main home.
"As a mother, I look at you and hear your story.
And I just...It's just almost impossible to comprehend.
Do you feel hopeful? Do you feel that your life has still possibilities?"
"Anyway, whatever it is. I'm really hopeful, because I have my son, for him I have to live so I try my best to live for him."
"Do you miss seeing him?"
"What did she say?"
"She says...well
I am very,
even if he's not with me, the child is with you so I feel he is in the safe hands so...it all depends on you, how you keep him."
"With her time, what is it that will be her dream?"
"She says what can a person with multiple diseases like me do. Sometimes I think that and I'm just hopeless but at times, again, I think Maiti Nepal is teaching me craft.
I think I can survive with this craft also."
"I have so many things to say. It's all in my heart and I'm very happy to share it and thank you for coming all the way and taking my story and sharing with everybody."
"Thank you. Can I have a hug?"
"I promise to do a really good job of sharing this, so that we can end this, so that doesn't have to keep happening to other girls."
One can't fathom the pain and suffering these women have endured until your hear their stories firsthand.
Really, how can this be allowed to go on?
I was due to meet someone who might be able to answer that question the prime minster of Nepal.
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