In the City Kathmandu

Sufi or holy men in the square

These guys were fun!

Buddha Stupa

Prayer Wheels

A book called “SOLD” 

Someone recommended a book for me to read while here called “SOLD” its about young Nepali girls, 12 and 13, that get sold to the sex trade in Calcutta, India.  Their families are so poor that they sell the girls, they think, to a family for maid services etc. But what is actually happening is that these young girls are being shipped over the border to India and beaten, drugged and thrown into the brothels of India, it was a hard book to read and made me feel sick to my stomach, today this is still going on, over 12000 Nepali girls a year fall victim to this, the US State dept estimates that nearly half a million children are trafficked into the sex trade annually..  The story of one girl, who the book is about, really thought that she would be able to help her mother buy food, a new tin roof and a warm sweater for her baby brother, it was so sad when she figured out that none of this was going to happen.  The person who wrote the book said that even today these girls that were rescued go out into the villages of Nepal to inform the parents of what is really happening to their daughters in hope they won’t sell them anymore.

I want to make bumper stickers that say, “Save our little girls from being sold to the sex trade in India, lobby the government for stricter border controls so they won’t get thru, educate the parents to what is really going on.  Border patrol between India and Nepal is a joke, for one, Indians and Nepalis can go across freely so with this setup how do they ever hope to catch these creepy people, they need to have stricter rules at the borders plus the policemen in India who know whats going on are corrupt and are being paid bribes to keep their mouths shut.  How this all came to light was by two American men who went to the brothel under false pretences and told the girls that they would rescue them, these girls were so frightened for the longest time they didn’t believe these men but in time they felt they had no choice and did, thats how they got freed, thank god.  One of the most touching things about this book was even in all this abuse, these girls had moments that touched their hearts, sharing in each others pain, a friendly caring tea boy who finally helped free them, it was so lovely to see human hearts at their best under such awful conditions.

You can imagine how it made my blood boil and not knowing how to help! Yet?

What I have noticed throughout these 3^rd world countries is that women are second class citizens still, the fact is that they don’t even believe that they are equal to the men, why would they, here they are not.  I blame the elders, they still control the family unit even when their kids take a partner, even more so I think,  I am relieved to say that the younger male generation are starting to respect women and that the women themselves are speaking out for equality, but even so the things that still go on I simply don’t and never will understand.
You cant tell me that when any of you think of a 12-13 year old girl you know, would she even believe that she is not worthy of the best in life and certainly anything equal to her brother? How can this be wrong?

Like here the kids parents really do still choose the partners in most cases, the boys are expected to work to support the whole family if no one else is, this creates a lot of pressure on these young kids, basically what you notice is that they work all the time, very little time for any leisure, they most often don’t live with their wifes or children but send money home to their villages.  Left to their own choices they likely would not be married yet but their parents arrange it and so it is done. If a wife leaves her husband she is cast out into the streets with nothing and in a state of disgrace, sometimes maimed so that everyone will know what she did and no-one else will want her.  Im happy to say that in Kathmandu there is a female Buddhist nunnery that is taking these outcast women in and teaching them skills etc. Get this one,  when a woman has her period she is sent out to the “goat shed” for 4-5 days and I mean shed and stay there till she is done, not coming out, what happened to being given a hot water bottle, some pain killers and a nice cup of tea, with some love and compassion!  In the ceremonies held each morning the men are worshipped and the wives go down on bended knees to kiss their husbands feet as if they are a god, can you imagine me doing this to Trev, I don’t think so!!

Im not criticizing this culture as much as i am shocked that this still goes on, the women don’t complain because they don’t know any differently, this is the way these kids have been brought up. One good thing i did hear a few times in Nepal was that birth control was being used in the younger generation and that 2-3 kids was enough!

My point is that regardless of whether we are male or female we are all human beings and therefore are all entitled to the same freedoms, we have the same hearts and souls, respect for each other and equality amongst all people, this is what will heal the world, not dominating powers over each other.. 

Even though 3^rd world, everyone carries a cell phone in their hands, this is going to be the change as now everyone can see what is happening in the world beyond theirs, local governments hate this!!.  Afterall this is exactly what happened in Egypt, one women had had enough and posted it on facebook!!  I remember one Indian hotel manager said he thought their culture of the parents choosing the wife was better cause there is less divorces, no kidding, no chance of leaving your husband otherwise you are cast out and maimed, no wonder there is less divorce, just a lot of unhappy people I think.  In India this is what I felt, no hope of anything better!

Want to buy a Parrot??

Happy Kids

How could anyone see these beautiful little girls as just a debt?

She played with this for over 20 mins


At this age,  boy or girl, Im quite sure they see each other as the same, its the parental conditioning that creeps into their minds and tells them differently, yuk! I dont call that cultural I call that controlling!