A woman with a mission - WITH a twinkle in her eyes and her hands clasped, Anuradha Koirala greets everybody she meets with the customary...

A woman with a mission
By RASHVINJEET S.BEDI
rashvin@thestar.com.my

She has been labelled the Terminator by human traffickers. For her untiring efforts in fighting sex slavery and exploitation of women and children, Anuradha Koirala was chosen CNN Hero 2010. Sunday Star catches up with this feisty woman.

WITH a twinkle in her eyes and her hands clasped, Anuradha Koirala greets everybody she meets with the customary Namaste greeting. “Call me Dijuu (elder sister in Nepalese),” says the motherly figure with a warm smile that instantly draws you to her. But if you’re a human trafficker, you had better watch out because Koirala is out to get you!

The founder and executive director of Maiti (Mother’s Home) Nepal personally raids brothels in India to rescue trafficked Nepalese girls and brings them back home. And she even patrols the India-Nepali border to keep a lookout for vans and buses crossing the border that may be used to traffick women and children.

Maiti has saved more than 12,000 girls from sex slavery and prevented 45,000 children and women from being trafficked at the border.

Koirala: ‘It hurts me a lot but it also keeps me going. I neve r regret that I do this work.’

For her untiring efforts, Koirala was named CNN Hero 2010, chosen in an online poll of more than two million people.

She has also won about 30 other awards in addition to being made an honorary minister in Nepal. Because of her efforts, Sept 5 is designated anti-trafficking day in Nepal.

Koirala does not see the CNN award as an individual recognition, saying it is more a recognition for the seriousness of human trafficking.

“For me, it means that globally, people have recognised the issue of trafficking. All these people consider it a heinous crime and want to fight it together,” she says during a press interview at the Asia Pacific Rule of Law Conference organised by the World Justice Project in Kuala Lumpur.

She relates the story where a young girl who was sexually exploited and contracted AIDS died in her arms a few years ago.

Workers at the crematorium, which normally charged 850 Nepali rupees, demanded 8,000 rupees for the funeral costs because they were scared of contracting AIDS from the dead girl. They eventually settled for 7,000 rupees.

“People talk about human and child rights but even after her death, people were bargaining over her body,” says Koirala.

More recently, she had to deal with two horrific cases of domestic workers being abused in the Middle East. One of the girls returned from Lebanon with broken legs and could no longer speak after her employer threw her down from the fifth floor of a building.

“I feel heartbroken. I feel all of us are inhuman because we have not taken these children as our sisters, our daughters, our child. If we start taking them as our own children, we will feel the pain,” she says.

She also tells of the struggles of young girls who are given hormone injections, raped up to 20 times a day, not given food, locked up and burned with irons.

“It hurts me a lot but it also keeps me going. I never regret that I do this work.”

She is so angry with traffickers that she wants the death penalty imposed on them, even though she knows capital punishment is a violation of human rights.

Maiti conducts awareness campaigns in villages and brings along journalists, doctors, nurses, the police and lawyers to spread the message.

At functions, the police vans play songs to spread the message against trafficking while the lawyers talk about the consequences of a trafficker being caught. Girls who have been victims relate their stories. The message is for everybody – the girls, parents and possible traffickers in the crowd.

“They (traffickers) give false promises and assurances to the parents.”

A typical day for Koirala starts at 5.30am and ends at 11pm. She is usually based in Maiti’s centre in Kathmandu, which is home to about 500 rescued girls.

In fact, Koirala prefers to be at home with her girls rather than attending meetings and talking abroad, which she believes do not achieve much.

“The time I spend back home is more fruitful,” she adds. An English teacher for 20 years, Koirala began her crusade after reading about trafficking in the papers in the 1990s. She also used to see many women begging around the temples.

“They were victims of domestic violence and polygamy. I was asking myself where are these women’s rights,” she relates.

Motherly figure: Koirala prefers to be at home with her girls rather than attending meetings or talking abroad.

She left her job and together with a group of friends, formed Maiti in 1993 to combat domestic violence, girl trafficking, child prostitution, child labour and various forms of female exploitation.

Today the organisation runs three prevention homes, 10 transit homes, two rehabilitation homes and a hospice.

Maiti’s programmes have helped sexually abused girls, abandoned children, potential victims of trafficking, destitute women, prisoner’s children, returnees from Indian brothels as well as girls and children infected with HIV and Hepatitis B. The toughest part of Koirala’s job is reintegrating the girls into society in view of the social stigma. The best way to do this is to empower them economically, she says.

At the homes, they are taught skills such as sewing, hairdressing and baking. They are also given job placements or help to start their own business.

Maiti also seeks justic for victims by initiating criminal investigation and waging legal battles against the criminals.

Koirala herself was a victim of domestic violence as her husband was an alcoholic who used to beat and scold her. But back then, she kept things to herself and never told anyone because of family honour.

“I always tell the girls that in my time, I had nobody. But now they have me,” she says.

Because of her brazeness, she often receives death threats, but is undaunted.

Once, she received a phone call from a Nepali prisoner who said that he had sent someone with a gun. He also threatened to kill her only son who has followed in her footsteps.

Koirala, however, remained unfazed by the threat.

“You will never work if you always feel scared,” she asserts.

And there is a reason why traffickers call her Terminator. A total of 688 offenders have been sentenced to jail so far through the joint effort of Maiti and the police. Bishwo Kadhka, the CEO of Maiti, says Koirala inspired him to join the organisation 16 years ago.

“Even criminals have respect for what she does. These people bow their heads to Koirala even though she might be their enemy. They know what she is fighting for,” he says.

Koirala gets inspiration from her grandfather, mother and Mother Theresa.

Because her father was an army colonel stationed in India, Koirala studied in a convent school in West Bengal.

She used to follow her mother to Mother Theresa’s shelter when she was eight years old.

“I met her just before she died (in Sept 1997) and she told me to keep on with my work,” says Koirala who defines religion as serving people.

So does she ever feel tired after pushing for so much but still seeing the same crimes happening?

“I’m not tired at all.”

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