California Nonprofit Is Close to Eliminating Child Bondage from Nepal

(I-Newswire) March 1, 2010 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Gregg Tully
Development Director
Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation (NYOF)
Mobile: 1-908-444-2317, office: 1-415-331-8585
gregg@nyof.org
www.NYOF.org

California Nonprofit Is Close to Eliminating Child Bondage from Nepal

Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation has rescued more than 2,400 bonded girls since January, plans to free the remaining 2,500 by April

(KATHMANDU, NEPAL, February 28, 2010) — The Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation (NYOF) launched a massive campaign in January to rescue every girl in Nepal who is laboring as an indentured servant. This is the climax of a decade-long effort to eradicate the custom of selling girls into bondage. A survey conducted by NYOF in late 2009 revealed that close to 5,000 girls were still bonded. In less than one month, NYOF has liberated 2,451 of these children.

In rural western Nepal, thousands of girls, some as young as six, are sold by destitute parents into bonded servitude each year. Spending their childhoods as servants and laborers in the homes of strangers, many of these girls suffer from physical and psychological abuse, some are forced into prostitution, and some disappear entirely.

For the past decade, the Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation has rescued these girls from bondage, reunited them with their families, and supported their education. Through 2009, NYOF and its network of partner organizations liberated 6,243 girls.

Last year, largely as a result of lobbying by NYOF, the government of Nepal allocated $1.6 million for education, vocational training and housing for former bonded servants. This relieved NYOF and its partners of the financial burden of providing scholarships to the 6,000-plus girls, thereby enabling them to focus on freeing girls who are still indentured.

Through this campaign, NYOF has discovered that dozens of girls have disappeared from the places where they were assigned to work. NYOF is working with the families of the missing girls to try to locate them.

The Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation is serving as advisor to the government of Nepal for the implementation of the $1.6 million program to rehabilitate the liberated girls. The organization will also continue its vigorous public awareness program that turns communities against the bonding custom, which is essential to prevent child trafficking from reappearing.

Facts about bonded servitude in Nepal
- Thousands of girls, some as young as six, are sold into indentured servitude every year in Nepal.
- The root cause is poverty; many rural families are unable to feed all their children without additional income from selling some of their daughters.
- Ignorance is also a cause. Parents are often led to believe that their daughters will have a better life with another family and will receive an education.
- Thousands of Nepali girls are trafficked into India every year to join the sex industry. Some of them first left home when they were sold as bonded servants.

The Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation (NYOF) is a nonprofit organization based in Sausalito, California that is devoted to bringing hope to the most destitute children in the beautiful but impoverished country of Nepal. NYOF liberates girls from indentured servitude, rescues children from severe malnutrition, manages loving homes for orphans and abandoned youth, and provides psychological counseling, vocational training, and a wide range of scholarships. For more information about NYOF, visit www.NYOF.org.

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About Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation:
The Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation (NYOF) is a U.S. based nonprofit organization devoted to bringing hope to the most destitute children in Nepal. We provide them with what should be every child's birthright - education, housing, medical care, and loving support. Find out more at www.NYOF.org.

Company Contact Information
Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation
Gregg Tully
3030 Bridgeway, Suite 123
Sausalito, CA
94965
Phone : 415-331-8585