It is estimated that more than 10,000 girls from Nepal each year are sold to brothels in India where they are forced to work in slave conditions. Young girls and women are lured by promises of jobs or sold into fake marriages by traffickers, or simply drugged and taken across the border.

It all began with a visit to a few Badi villages in western Nepal by Håkan Gabrielsson from Out of Ashes, together with Raju Sundas, the founder of Lighthouse Foundation Nepal (LHFN). This december it is ten years since that visit.

”I remember very well that day in February 2009 when I went with Raju to visit the area where the Badi people live in western Nepal. The visit shook me up and moved me deeply, and that experience was the seed that was planted in my heart to get involved in work against trafficking. We decided to offer a way out of slavery by starting a girls’ hostel in Kathmandu, which we dedicated in December 2009.” – Håkan

Our emphasis since then has been to focus on the Badi girls and women, the most vulnerable ethnic group that is subject to this kind of slavery. The work focuses on education for children from elementary school to high school and student hostels where the children can experience security, love and care when they study. Over the years the work has also involved a baby-centre for abandoned children and a halfway house for women rescued from brothels, as well as vocational training programs. At present some of these programs are however not in operation.

Help us to help more. Help us to End Trafficking and Restore Lives.