Friday, April 29, 2011

Anuradha Koirala -"Nepali Lioness"









         I came across this video in Facebook and was impressed with  her amazing personality  and thought of blogging about her.Anuradha Koirala ,born and brought up in Nepal ,is a social activist, who started her daring task of fighting against human trafficking for sexual exploitation of children and woman since 1993.Ms Koirala ,who herself was a survivor of sexual violence , started her organisation with her own small house in Kathmandu Nepal which later bloomed into the present 'Maiti'.She is the executive director and founder of this rehabilitation center which is a home for thousands of rescued gals and woman ,who are allowed to stay here and trained for some small jobs until they wish to.
    Ms Koirala with some  coworkers ,personally raids the brothels were the girls are arrested by the sex traffickers and also does patrolling across the border region of India Nepal where these girl children are transported across to India for sex trading and helps rescue them .On discovering  the horrifying treatment of these kids at the brothels ,where they are sexually tormented  with 30 to 40 men a day and  physically abused, she was motivated to do something for them with vengeance .Her social work  is not limited to just rescuing these girls and bringing them to Maiti ,but also treating them for the various diseases and dealing with their Physical , emotional and psyoclogical  including pregnancy ,Aids ,sexual ailments ,mental problems,etc .Most of these children would not be able to return back to their home as a result of social stigma and nonacceptance from their parents.Ms Koirala also conducts many campaigns and  awareness programmes across various places in Nepal ,creating awareness about sexual violence and human trafficking amongst the uneducated rural population.She was recently awarded 'CNN Hero' by the CNN and was awarded an amount of   $100,000 to continue her work with Maiti Nepal, in addition to the $25,000 awarded to each of the top 10 Heroes honored.This lady with a simple ,yet captivating personality ,is no doubt  a lioness in true sense.


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Sunday, April 24, 2011

Unwelcomed guest!!

     "Little gesture of smile ,one cup of coffee and  little words of love " -this is the formula  for a person to' feel at home ' at a host's place right?Well ,my recent experience with a relative of mine deceived me of my thoughts and belief.She was a cousin of mine who was pretty close during childhood days and had moved to the US long back and now coincidentally she was just half an hour drive away from our place.So excitedly ,I planned a visit to her place by calling her up ,on a particular day and she seemed pleased to invite me home .The initial entry into the house such that,was  that we could predict the next sequence.We stood by the door just waiting for a pleasing gesture form her side or a word to have a seat ;but it seemed like we were some unwelcomed guests or some salesmen who receive a displeasing /frowning expression.We had to make ourselves comfortable ,so we decided to have our seat even though we weren't offered a seat.Then as we were about to sit,I heard her saying "have your seat"..I was glad that at least after  5 min ,she remembered to offer a seat.
      Then ,I lead the conversation and chatted with her , as she was a silent gal who hardly could answer a few questions what we asked.After a while of conversation involving questions like "how do you spend your time here"?;"which school does your son go?" "where does your husband work?"bla bla... ,I was tired leading the one man army and going on and on like a chatter box .It was as if I was trying to make the host comfortable with my conversation!,I started wondering what to do next? My poor reserved introvert  hubby  too joined me in my chit chat wondering about  the mere peculiar situation.The host kept continuing her vegetable chopping job as she was talking to us and we kept gazing and were perplexed.Now since we had planned for a short duration stay there  we were lucky!She just seemd to unwillingly question us if she needed to prepare lunch for us and we instantly rejected  saying that we would be back home for lunch.That's it; that was the end of it and we just fled away with a hope to never return back there.
     Certain traditions ,etiquittes  or mannerisms are always good to be continued nevertheless were you stay or whatever is the situation.A pleasent demeanor ,atleast an offer for  a cup of water for a person who comes home;isn't that decent enough expectation? What do you guys feel?Have you ever had such an experience??!