Anuradha Koirala the founder and director of Maiti Nepal
Following an abusive relationship, Anuradha Koirala was prompted to change her life and the lives of other abused women by creating a shelter named “Maiti Nepal,” which roughly translates to “Mother’s Home.” The shelter has been able to provide advocacy, legal defense, and rehabilitation to thousands of girls trapped into the sex trade, abused, and exploited. According to the U.S. State Department, some 10,000 to 15,000 women and girls from Nepal are trafficked to India and sexually exploited each year.
Much of the staff working at Maiti Nepal are former brothel and sex trade survivors themselves, who are now committed to reciprocate the help and healing they were once given. While the group’s short-term priority is to get the girl’s away from harm, their ultimate goal is to “help girls become economically independent and reintegrated into society.”
Koirala and Maiti Nepal have helped rescue and rehabilitate more than 12,000 Nepali women and girls since 1993.
To read the full story of her impressive work and Maiti Nepal please go to: http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/04/29/cnnheroes.koirala.nepal/