I am currently enjoying a moment of peace and stillness, in an Israeli cafe here in the heart of Kathmandu. The password for the internet here is Baba Ganesh. Get it?
My boss, and some other people from the office, have been away this week. They are in Tamil Nadu, India, on a rescue mission. According to a documentary I just saw, our charity has, over the years, rescued over 300 children. Each rescue mission is different from the last. Sometimes they involve being chased by dogs and men with big sticks. Sometimes they involve long hours spent in police stations, dealing with beauraucracy and corruption. Of all the rescue missions this is probably the most bizarre. This time they are rescuing young girls from Dr. Job's Mission, another charity.
I cannot write emotively, can only report. I would like to paint a picture, the landscape, the long journeys, describe faces, conversations, but the whole situation is too sick. Maybe later.
It is difficult to get accurate information, and of course each story is slightly different. Here, a death certificate was forged, so that the parents believed their daughter had died. There, the website shows profiles of girls, falsely claiming that they're orphans. Perhaps Dr. Job's Mission actually believes this. The agent that was responible for trafficking the children has a particularly nasty reputation. Usually the agents are so well-connected that it is almost impossible to arrest them. The families tell us that they had sent their children to Kathmandu to get a good education. Instead, the daughters were taken to India, given new names and put in an evangelical christian school, so that they can continue God's work. One girl managed to get in touch with her brother back home. She begged for help, claiming that they were routinely abused, that conditions were terrible. Word made it to our organisation. Some family members were brought along to make rescue possible. One of the girl's brothers, perhaps the same one who received the phone call, had a seizure on the plane, I'm told that if he hadn't been on that plane, there would have been no way that he would have made it to the hospital in time, his life would have ended in that village.
The crew from EBT moved quickly, and managed to rescue 30 Nepali children. Each family has agreed to take the children back.
I cannot help but think of that line from Scooby Doo, "And I would have got away with it too, if it hadn't been for those pesky kids". One girl made a phone call, and 30 children were brought home. Surely more investigations will follow, what will happen next I cannot say, but I am happy to see that Dr. Job's Mission's website is down for maintenance. You can still see the title, "Welcome to the Home for Daughters of Martyred Christians"
My boss, and some other people from the office, have been away this week. They are in Tamil Nadu, India, on a rescue mission. According to a documentary I just saw, our charity has, over the years, rescued over 300 children. Each rescue mission is different from the last. Sometimes they involve being chased by dogs and men with big sticks. Sometimes they involve long hours spent in police stations, dealing with beauraucracy and corruption. Of all the rescue missions this is probably the most bizarre. This time they are rescuing young girls from Dr. Job's Mission, another charity.
I cannot write emotively, can only report. I would like to paint a picture, the landscape, the long journeys, describe faces, conversations, but the whole situation is too sick. Maybe later.
It is difficult to get accurate information, and of course each story is slightly different. Here, a death certificate was forged, so that the parents believed their daughter had died. There, the website shows profiles of girls, falsely claiming that they're orphans. Perhaps Dr. Job's Mission actually believes this. The agent that was responible for trafficking the children has a particularly nasty reputation. Usually the agents are so well-connected that it is almost impossible to arrest them. The families tell us that they had sent their children to Kathmandu to get a good education. Instead, the daughters were taken to India, given new names and put in an evangelical christian school, so that they can continue God's work. One girl managed to get in touch with her brother back home. She begged for help, claiming that they were routinely abused, that conditions were terrible. Word made it to our organisation. Some family members were brought along to make rescue possible. One of the girl's brothers, perhaps the same one who received the phone call, had a seizure on the plane, I'm told that if he hadn't been on that plane, there would have been no way that he would have made it to the hospital in time, his life would have ended in that village.
The crew from EBT moved quickly, and managed to rescue 30 Nepali children. Each family has agreed to take the children back.
I cannot help but think of that line from Scooby Doo, "And I would have got away with it too, if it hadn't been for those pesky kids". One girl made a phone call, and 30 children were brought home. Surely more investigations will follow, what will happen next I cannot say, but I am happy to see that Dr. Job's Mission's website is down for maintenance. You can still see the title, "Welcome to the Home for Daughters of Martyred Christians"
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