Shakti Samuha
Shakti Samuha is run by Nepali women who have been rescued from slavery including forced prostitution in India, and returned to Nepal. Having struggled to reclaim their own lives, they are reaching out to help other returning trafficking survivors, by providing shelter, legal aid, vocational training and counseling. They have also set up Adolescent Girls Groups based in the poorest communities in order to pass on the message about the dangers of trafficking. Now they are reaching out to rural districts where trafficking is prevalent, helping women make a united stand against the traffickers.
Video: Helping Sex Slaves Find Freedom.
In 1996, 500 girls and women were rescued from slavery in Indian brothels during widespread police raids. Among these were 148 Nepalese girls and women. All these girls were then locked away in remand homes in India, where conditions were as bad - if not worse - than in prison. Meanwhile, the Nepalese government was reluctant to bring the victims back to Nepal. Instead, some non-governmental organizations took the lead in returning and rehabilitating the girls. But even in these rehabilitation centers, the girls’ treatment did not help to restore their self-esteem and basic human rights. Some of the girls felt it was time to claim their rights themselves, so they set up Shakti Samuha. Shakti Samuha translates as “an empowered group”.
Shakti Samuha is different from other groups that help trafficking survivors: It places the highest value on self-empowerment. Its aim is to give a stronger voice to women who have been violently exploited and are now in danger of being rejected by their own communities.
Since the mid-90s, the need for Shakti Samuha’s work has grown because trafficking has turned into a major export industry from Nepal to India and other countries. Traffickers prey on the desperation of young people to get out of Nepalese villages that are beset with hunger, their economies paralyzed by fighting between Maoists and government forces. Once in India, women are bought from the traffickers by brothel owners, and they are expected to pay back this purchase price out of their earnings.
More than a hundred survivors of trafficking list their demands at the first national convention of survivors in Nepal, click here to read them.
Shakti Samuha feels that if women and girls are given safe shelter, counseling and practical help, they can find their own ways to rebuild their lives. Some need to go home to their families, but for others, family relationships cannot be rebuilt, and they need to become independent.
- Shakti Samuha now has its own shelter home for up to 24 survivors of trafficking or other sexual violence.
- They counsel the women about their experiences and provide legal support to those who may be able to prosecute the trafficker. (25 women were helped in this way during 2004).
- They organize trafficking survivors and other women in Kathmandu who are living with HIV/AIDS.
- When they are ready, the women work with Shakti Samuha to obtain vocational training such as electrical work, beauty salons or office work.
- Shakti Samuha has also helped some of its members by providing loans to start small businesses such as goat-rearing, a stationery shop and a grocery shop.
Shakti Samuha knows that only a small percentage of girls are actually rescued from slavery. So their emphasis is on prevention. They target the very same locations as the traffickers: for example, the slums of Kathmandu and the carpet factories surrounding the capital, and now expanding into more remote rural districts. Ten Adolescent Girls Groups, including approximately 200 members, organize awareness-raising events in their own slums and squatter communities. They use techniques like “Forum Theater” to dramatize the trafficking issue and engage audiences in suggesting solutions. As soon as the performers arrive, hundreds of people gather round curiously in the open air to join in. Speech contests organized by the Girls Groups enable girls to express their ideas about the intense gender discrimination that is a prime cause of trafficking. Shakti Samuha also reaches out to schools: for example, through training social studies teachers on trafficking and human rights. In 2005, they are taking street theater performances on tour to 8 rural districts where trafficking is rife.
“I started to work in Bijaya carpet factory when we came to Kathmandu. Staff of Shakti Samuha started to provide lots of information about trafficking. Before that we knew nothing. We were really surprised when we heard that women are being trafficked. Can a person be sold? How one person sells other person? We know that Shakti Samuha is an organization of women who are survivors of violence–so it is very easy for us to share our problems with them. We have a plan to organize the women workers’ group and fight against trafficking and women’s violence.”
*Participant in Shakti Samuha’s program in the carpet factories, excerpted from Shakti Samuha’s annual report, 2004
Members of Shakti Samuha use their experiences of anti-trafficking work as a way to guide and influence others who are concerned about trafficking in South Asia and globally. For example, they are currently preparing a manual on a rights-based approach to rehabilitation and social reintegration of trafficking survivors. They also bring their dynamic street theater performances to international conferences and training events. Free the Slaves has helped Shakti Samuha obtain funds for its awareness-raising program and to strengthen the skills of its staff. Now we want to help the organization expand its outreach to new areas, to prevent more women and girls from being trafficked.
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