Names have been changed in the story to protect the privacy of those involved.

Image: Farid and Santosh being interviewed for 101 East in the classroom at the Karnali 1 home.

101 East is Al Jazeera’s weekly Asian current affairs program. With special reports on topics such as Korean mail-order brides and Chinese animal activism, 101 East tackles the issues that unify and divide Asia. The crew came to NGN’s Karnali 1 home in Kathmandu and found out for themselves what child trafficking means to these children.

Santosh, who was trafficked from the Humla region when he was around 9 or 10, had a chance to tell his story on camera. He has been under NGN’s care since 2004. Believing education was the only way out of poverty, his parents paid a large sum of money to a person later known as a trafficker to send him to school in Kathmandu.

But Santosh was not sent to school. He was locked up in terrible conditions for a year and a half. He was frequently starving for days. He had to panhandle for the trafficker. He witnessed his friends (other trafficked children) disappearing. He was even sold to a hotel as a child servant, spending his days all alone serving tea, doing dishes and cleaning rooms.

Once Santosh was rescued, he was finally able to recover physically, receive the affection any child deserves and continue his childhood where it had left off. NGN found Santosh’s family in a remote village of Humla, seven days south of Simikot on foot. He went back to his village several times. He even took the initiative to start a library project for the village with his older brother. He is now studying hard at school so he can make a positive impact on his community. NGN is determined to help him bring the change that Humla desperately needs. When the producer concluded the interview by asking him what he wanted to be when he grows up, Santosh eloquently explained his passion to become a social worker. He wants to make a difference, to give back and help improve the lives of the less fortunate ones.

Country Director Farid Ait-Mansour also discussed NGN’s views on child trafficking. Farid outlined the organization’s role in Nepal and its mission to reconnect trafficked children with their families. He stressed the importance of reunification. Trafficked children are stripped of the childhoods and their rights to a normal home life. They are often victims of further child abuse and suffer from psycho-social trauma that put their future at risk.

Raising awareness on child trafficking and its consequences through the media is one of NGN’s tasks in addition to its reunification programs. Tourists or volunteers can unwittingly facilitate the trafficking of children in Nepal by supporting children on the streets or in illegal orphanages, creating a lucrative business opportunities for people with ill intentions. An increase in awareness can also prevent parents in remote regions from trusting traffickers and sending their children to the Kathmandu Valley in hopes of a better life through education.

Stay tuned for 101 East’s special report on child trafficking in Nepal to be broadcasted on September 22, 2011 on Al Jazeera English. It will also be available online at: http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/101east/

We Need Your Help

As of 2017, there are still 15,000 children living in abusive orphanages. 80% of these children are not orphans; they have families. Help us reunite them.