Tucked into a peaceful courtyard off a busy Kathmandu road, this inspiring and effective organization welcomes young female volunteers to teach English, offer cooking classes, marketing help, data collection and grant writing.
Started by a women’s advocate and a former Nepali Supreme Court judge, this NGO works with young women rescued from sex trafficking. It offers them skills -- they’re trained as paralegals or to work in the hospitality industry -- and conducts outreach campaigns to warn Nepalese families in the villages surrounding Kathmandu of the dangers of trafficking. The group’s founders say, many of the young women held virtual prisoner in brothels initially were told they would be given jobs as hotel workers or domestic help. Instead, they end up far from home -- most often, in northern India -- their passports confiscated by their pimps, without language skills, help or a way out.
The 2015 earthquake that devastated Nepal has made this already urgent problem even more acute. Hardship has fueled the growth of trafficking: it’s estimated that between 10,000 and 15,000 young women from Nepal, nearby Bhutan and Bangladesh are sexually enslaved each year.
Reintegrating these young women into society after their rescue is part of the struggle against trafficking. Many can’t return home, or don’t want to. They need medical help, education, jobs and a path to a normal life.
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| The Kitchen at the Women's Center |
This is what this caring NGO offers. And here are some ways you can help:
If you’re a native speaker, you can teach English here, or conduct conversation classes.
If you’ve studied hotel management, you can offer valuable insights to young women hoping to enter the industry.
If you can teach cooking you’re welcome to share your skills in a kitchen that’s part of the NGO. When Janella and I visited, a class in omelet-making had just finished.
Are you tech-savvy? You can help with the group’s website and online presence.
Hablas Espa͠nol? You can help translate the website so it reaches a wider international audience.
The women being trained here have recently began making bracelets as a way to earn money, and an ELI volunteer has just helped them set up an Etsy shop. So volunteers with some microfinance background, or those with business skills who can help set up a business plan and a marketing strategy, can also make a huge difference here.
The center has extensive data -- paper files and legal documents -- on the young women it has helped over the past few years. Volunteers with a background in social science research could be instrumental in setting up a digitized data collection system so that it can be used as a tool for fundraising and recognition of the important work being done by the group.
Qualified volunteers who are able to make a longer time commitment (a month at least) may also be able to join trips into vulnerable Nepalese villages to help with the group’s outreach and public awareness efforts. Trust us, this is a unique, eye-opening opportunity to watch activism in action.
Finally: grant writing. Calling all social science students! This group needs funds so it can continue its efforts, and expand them.
But right now, there aren’t enough staffers here with time enough, or language skills strong enough, to tap into grants available internationally. One ELI volunteer -- who has no training in business or fundraising -- did online research, found some grant opportunities and wrote a couple of grant proposals. Imagine what you can accomplish if you have a background in this area! Grant writers, researchers, social science strategists: you can make an immense impact here.
One last important note: Because many of the women associated with this organization have been deeply traumatized and find the presence of men uncomfortable, the center requests female volunteers only.
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