Today’s
Good People, Good Works
will be presented
in Nepali and English ,
with subtitles in Arabic,
Aulacese (Vietnamese),
Chinese, English,
French, German,
Indonesian, Japanese,
Korean, Malay,
(Nepali,) Persian,
Portuguese, Russian,
Thai and Spanish.
Mother Teresa,
I always used to meet her
and she said,
“Continue all your work,
don’t stop your work.”
Hallo, enlightened viewers,
and welcome to today’s
Good People, Good Works.
Our program
features Maiti Nepal,
a non-profit organization
dedicated to the protection
of women’s rights
in Nepal.
Maiti Nepal was established
by a group of
caring teachers, journalists
and social workers
in November 1993.
It provides a warm shelter
for women and girls
who have been victims
of human trafficking,
abuse and neglect
by their families,
and exploitation.
Besides pursuing
the legal rights
of those it helps,
Maiti Nepal also provides
loving encouragement
and support
such as teaching
basic reading and writing
and vocational skills
to enable clients
to start a bright new life.
Due to the tireless efforts
of Maiti Nepal, the issue
of human trafficking
has received much attention
and concern
from the public and
the Nepali government.
In recognition of its
outstanding contributions
to the protection of girls,
the World’s Children’s
Prize for the Rights
of the Child was awarded
to the group in 2002.
Ms. Anuradha Koirala is
the founder and chairperson
of the organization.
She now discusses the
evolution of Maiti Nepal
and its efforts
to protect women’s rights
over the years.
I used to go to
Pashupatinath,
that is a temple, and I
used to see women begging;
very healthy women
begging with
lots of children.
And I asked them,
“Why are you on the street?
Why are you begging?
You are so healthy.
And the begging time
is only three hours
in the morning and
two hours in the evening.
What happened to you?
Why do you beg?”
They always told me
that my husband
married another woman
or my husband died
and then my in-laws
kicked me out of the house
or my husband ran away
with another woman
and that is why
I’m on the street today.
Learning of
the desperate circumstances
of these women,
Ms. Koirala began to think
how she could help them
become independent
and lead dignified lives.
They were very healthy and
I didn’t want them to beg.
Everybody has to work
and learn to work.
So I told them,
“If I give you a job,
will you work?”
And they said, “Of course
we will work, but
who will give us a job?”
Because
everywhere in the world
when you seek a job,
they look for security.
“I will support you and
you can start small shops
on the street
that will be independent.
You don’t have to work
in someone’s house,
it will be independent, and
I will start small shops.”
It is called “nanglo pasal.”
Nanglo pasal means
small shops on the street,
which during those times
cost about 1,000 (rupees).
And I was a teacher,
I earned only 7,000 rupees,
but even then I said
I must do something
for these women.
So I talked to these women
for one and a half months
and they realized
that they wanted to do it
and they said
“Okay, we want to do it.”
Soon afterwards,
Ms. Koirala
began her loving and
compassionate work and
her level of involvement
and responsibility grew
as time passed.
So eight women came.
I said, “You give me
one rupee every day
so that with that one rupee
I can help another sister.”
So these women used to
pay me one rupee per day.
After one month
they said, “Oh
our children are running
from here to there,
the cars may run over them,
they’re not
going to school,
they’re not
under our control.
Please take our daughters.”
I said, “Okay.”
And I said,
“I’m sure I can do it;
I think I will do it.”
So I started a small NGO
(non-governmental
organization).
And then in one house
I gave training to women
for sewing and cutting
and in one house I said,
“I will keep your children.”
So, then with eight shops
on the road,
it was so expensive:
house rent, food,
medical care,
and education.
It was very difficult.
Whatever I had,
I sold everything.
The exceptionally
challenging conditions
lasted for a period of time
until a miracle happened
one day.
One Japanese person
who was working in
UNICEF (United Nations
Children’s Fund)
heard about me and came
and he said, “You are
doing fantastic work.
I will write a proposal
for you and then maybe
UNICEF will support you.”
So he wrote a proposal
for us and then
UNICEF supported us.
If your husband batters you,
if you are sold,
or if you are trafficked,
or abused,
the ultimate place
for girls to come back
is the mother’s home.
Right?
So Maiti means
“mother’s home.”
And slowly I got
some helpers and then
there were four or five,
and now 299 people
are working with us.
I’m the chairperson
and founder,
there is a director, there
is a senior finance officer,
three finance account
officers, and then we
have shelter in- charge
We have five lawyers.
Then we have nurses;
we have doctors.
It’s not only here,
it’s all over Nepal.
When we return,
Ms. Koirala will continue
to talk about Maiti Nepal’s
noble work of
protecting women’s rights.
Please stay tuned
to Supreme Master
Television.
In 1998,
Prince Charles visited us.
Prince Charles
did a lot for us because
we were also known
around the world,
that was one part.
The other part was
he sold his
personal paintings and
he supported our girls,
and with that money we
bought this piece of land.
Welcome back to
Good People, Good Works
here on
Supreme Master Television.
As part of its mission,
Maiti Nepal operates
three Rehabilitation Homes,
three Prevention Homes,
and eight Transit Homes.
The Rehabilitation Homes
provide temporary shelter
to lost or
abandoned children and
survivors of trafficking
and domestic violence.
Residents are provided
with help
to reintegrate into society.
So we ask them,
“What training
do you want to take?”
We are giving them
optional training
like gardening, baking,
housekeeping, and
other work in the hotel.
So Annapurna Hotel
is helping us;
they’re giving our girls
lots of training and they’re
giving them jobs also.
There are beauty parlors
where girls are doing
very well.
The girls are doing
very well in carpentry
and welding.
At the Prevention Homes
girls who are at risk
of being trafficked
are housed for four
to six months and
taught income generating
and community
mobilization skills
as well as
given leadership training.
The Transit Homes are
located in India-Nepal
border towns and shelter
those who were rescued
from being trafficked,
with nearly 9,000 women
and children
having been saved
by Maiti Nepal
between 1993 and 2006.
There is a force which is
pushing me to work;
I have to work,
I have to do;
it is keeping me going on.
So I started with two rooms
with no money.
If there was no God,
I don’t think my dream
would have been fulfilled
to help so many children.
The pain, the sorrow
I see in the girls,
the suffering which I see
in the children
keeps me going on.
The primary work of ours
is awareness, prevention,
then we are doing rescue,
then we are doing
legal work, then we are
doing repatriation,
then we are doing
reintegration,
then we are doing
different job trainings,
and we are doing
job placements.
Maiti Nepal’s tremendous
accomplishments
have earned the Nepali
government’s recognition
and strong support.
We have been able to
change a lot.
For example,
people never spoke
in the Parliament
about this issue.
Now since 1990
they have been speaking
about this issue
in the Parliament.
Every party has at least
four lines in their mandate
about this issue.
Political officers,
ministers, they listen to us.
This year
they said “Okay.”
Nobody has done this
in the world (before),
the government of Nepal
has announced that
the 5th of September is
Anti-trafficking Day.
So that is also
an achievement to us.
Today, Maiti Nepal
is working hard
to inform the public
concerning trafficking
and has set up
anti-trafficking
surveillance networks
in four Nepali districts
bordering India.
We have 26 official borders
between India and Nepal,
and Indians and Nepalis
needs no passport
to come and go.
But at these borders,
these are official borders,
there is police, immigration,
everything is there.
But there were no girls
to check who goes
and who comes.
In the whole world,
we are the only one who
put girls at the border.
Four girls at the border,
together with the police
to check every girl
whom they doubt
because these girls
have more experience
than you and me, because
they went through
the same border.
So they stop
the suspected ones
and they ask questions.
So after thinking
that this girl
is going to be trafficked,
we hand the girl over
to the police and
the police make an inquiry.
Ms. Koirala
has put together
innovative public
awareness campaigns
regarding trafficking.
In the evening
we gather in a place, we
have a musical band and
sing famous Nepali songs
and we call people
and they come to
listen to the music.
Then we give the message
of what is trafficking,
why people are trafficked,
who traffics them, and
what are the consequences
of trafficking.
So we tell them that,
so that is why now
people are accepting.
You have to
change your attitude
towards this issue.
First, you have to
love this issue,
you have to be passionate
about this issue,
then you will know
what happens, you know?
You have to take each girl
as your own daughter,
as your own child.
So that is why we have to
give lots of training
to police to be sensitive
about this issue.
Ms. Koirala and
Maiti Nepal also
encourage shelter residents
to adopt a plant-based diet
and follow a healthy
and natural lifestyle.
I think to be vegetarian
is to be very healthy.
Meat is harmful
for your health,
everybody knows that.
Maiti Nepal has
lots of farms where
we are trying to grow now
all organic vegetables,
especially for those
HIV positive, because
we have a hospice.
So I am trying to make them
also avoid meat.
And now
it is a very good reason;
there is bird flu
in this country.
I have got here in this place
575 children and girls
and in the hospice
I have 40, so they all
have been vegetarians
for one and half months
together with me.
We would like to convey
our sincere appreciation
to Ms. Anuradha Koirala
and Maiti Nepal for helping
so many vulnerable
women and girls
lead dignified
and independent lives.
May your benevolent work
always have the abundant
blessings of Heaven.
For more details on
Maiti Nepal please visit
www.MaitiNepal.org
Thank you
for joining us for today’s
Good People, Good Works.
Next is
The World Around Us,
after Noteworthy News.
May all we always seek
to help others in need.
Residents of the town
of Richelieu in Quebec,
Canada have experienced
first-hand
the environmental
devastation caused
by the operation
of a nearby pig farm.
So the river, every time
it rains the river changes
its color completely.
At the bottom of the river,
there is this slime,
slimy stuff at the bottom
of river that makes it
absolutely disgusting.
On Wednesday, April 7,
hear more about
“The Devastating Effects
of a Pig Factory Farm”
on Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home.