Victim of Child Prostitution

When our Nepal team approached Nelia* (name changed for privacy), she was helpless, traumatized, and unable to speak. Upon investigation into what happened to her, she shared with us what led her to ask for help.

Nelia, 16, left her home to pursue higher studies to study a bridge course for nursing because she dreams of becoming a nurse. Since this was far from their hometown, she and her parents agreed to let her stay at their relatives’ house until she finished her course.

Typically, people are treated very well in the beginning, and that is what happened to Nelia. True enough, after a few weeks of her stay at her relatives’ house, they stopped giving her proper meals and started torturing her mentally.

She shared this with her mother and decided to stay with her friends in a rented apartment while she studied. After she moved out of the relatives’ house, a fellow tenant in the apartment found out she was looking for a job and recommended waitressing at a nearby hotel. The job was for evening shifts, which was perfect for her as a student because she could go to her classes in the morning and then work her shift at night.

Initially, she worked as a waitress while balancing her classes and work, but after a while, she was made to wear short clothes and serve drinks to high-paying customers. The environment of the hotel bar became toxic, and Nelia was constantly molested and harassed. It wasn’t long before she was forced to engage in sexual activities with customers who paid a lot of money.

It was during this time that she was hit with depression, and it became increasingly difficult for her to focus on her studies. She was confined to a hotel room for days without any contact with the outside world, and she was only allowed to come out when high-paying customers came to the hotel.

After all those incidents, she could not return to her mother and no longer had the motivation to pursue her studies. So when she had an opportunity to escape from the hotel, she ran away.

She sought help from a lady and was directed to one of our anti-human trafficking border monitoring stations, run by our program partner, 3 Angels Nepal, and fully funded by Captivating International. Our team immediately coordinated with the police after receiving Nelia, and an investigation was conducted into the hotel and the tenant who lured her. Our team contacted her mother and counseled her once they learned about her studies and how bright her future could be if she continued her education. It was hard for her mother to accept her daughter’s traumatic experiences and how her daughter’s pursuit of her dreams turned into a nightmare.

After counseling, Nelia promised to continue her studies, while her mother pledged to look after her until she graduated from her course. Furthermore, her mother was given legal advice to file a case against the tenant and the hotel for conducting such a crime, aiming to prevent the same horrible fate from happening to other women.

Having been in the most vulnerable situation, Nelia needed support, safety, and direction. We are grateful for our Nepal team’s action and remain hopeful that our support got Nelia back on her feet to pursue her dream once more.

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