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PHOTO: stephen tollestrup
PHOTO: RICHARD BARTER
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Share and Care is creating work and helping boost family
incomes to ensure children aren’t sold to traffickers as a result
of poverty.
about share and care
Share and Care is TEAR Fund’s strategic partner in the
central and rugged Himalayan eastern regions of Nepal; home
to the famous Gurkha, Gurung and Sherpa peoples. Share
and Care has been central in mobilising Nepal’s growing
churches and in responding to the nation’s desperate poverty,
exacerbated by the decade-long civil war.
Share and Care’s staff specialise in organising local
communities to stand up for human rights and gender equity
in Nepal’s oppressive patriarchal culture which sees women
as mere chattels. It also has expertise in small business and
agricultural development and securing the safe return of
refugees and victims of trafficking.
Share and Care promotes the enrolment of children in
schools, raising awareness of health and sanitation as well as
providing HIV/AIDs education and church and community-
Symonds Street
based support services for victims.
AUCKLAND 1150
FreePost Authority Number 140677
P O Box 8315
Share and Care works with the poorest and most destitute
populations. During the civil war which saw 13,000 casualties
TEAR Fund
and displaced an estimated 150,000 people, Share and Care
won the respect of all concerned for their determination to
serve the needs of that war’s poorest victims. Today Share and
Care has the support and backing of the new government and
works without constraint.
Share and Care summarises its values as: “Speak up for the
people who cannot speak for themselves. Protect the rights of
all who are helpless. Speak for them and be a righteous judge.
Protect the rights of the poor and needy.” - Proverbs 31:8-9
Every year thousands of young Nepalese children endure the misery of being trafficked to India and
sold into prostitution or to work in servitude. You can help prevent this happening to children like
these ones.
married into prostitution
It is extremely hard for us to imagine the sort
of desperate poverty that would compel us to
marry off a daughter to a stranger for the sake of
a bride price, but that is what happened to Lalita
and thousands of other girls like her.
Lalita was married at 14 to a much older
stranger, a con-artist, trafficker, who came to
visit her remote mountain village, promising a
bride price for her parents and a future for Lalita.
The reality was much different; once taken to
India, like thousands of other unsuspecting girls,
she was sold into prostitution to the brothel
slums of Mumbai.
Lalita was completely alone, torn from her
family, enduring a degrading and humiliating life
she never imagined. She was a child living in
fear, trying to satisfy the depraved appetites of
her adult clients; failure to please meant beatings
and loss of food. During the many years she was
the
of the
himalayas
trapped in the brothel, Lalita was frequently ill
and like many other traffick victims, was delivered
a death sentence, testing positive for HIV.
Lalita eventually made her way back to her
mountain village in Nepal but hasn’t been
accepted back into her community because she
is HIV positive. Life was very tough for Lalita,
not only was she shunned, but she couldn’t
afford treatment for her failing health. When
found by Share and Care she was destitute and
completely dependent on her younger daughter.
As part of a Share and Care community
education team, Lalita is making families aware
PHOTOS: SHARE AND CARE NEPAL
of the deceptions of traffickers and encouraging
the community to have compassion for victims.
Share and Care has helped Lalita survive and
empowered her to reach out and make use of
her experience for good. Christmas Focus 2008
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1156
the

Mobile
PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY TO HELP THE LOST CHILDREN OF THE HIMALAYAS

Please fill in the coupon, place in the freepost envelope with your payment, seal & post.
Email
of the
himalayas

Tick here and TEAR Fund will keep you informed on events, projects and disaster relief by:

MASTERCARD
PHOTO: istock

$100
Evil stalks the
mountains of Nepal

VISA
$50
Behind the breathtaking scenery, the tourist trekking routes and captivating mountains, Nepal

$25

Cheque (make payable to TEAR Fund)

has a nasty secret borne out of poverty. Every year a staggering 10,000 Nepalese children between
the ages of 9 and 16 are sold to brothels in India, where their youth brings a high price for their
owners.

I WOULD LIKE TO PAY BY:

Enclosed is my donation of
Trafficking is a multi-million dollar industry in Nepal fed by poverty, greed and depravity. Being

PHOTO: IRIN NEWS

utterly destitute makes parents vulnerable to the deceptions used by child traffickers. They trick
poor unsuspecting parents into agreeing to marry their daughters offering tempting bride prices or

Card Number
else fictional job opportunities. Right now 200,000-250,000 Nepalese children are believed to be
child traffick victims, who daily face abuse and molestation. If they don’t attract enough clients they
are beaten and go without food. Most will become HIV positive and die in squalor.
TEAR FUND SAYS no to trafficking by:
The Lost Children of the Himalayas project will help end the abuse of Nepal’s children. This
comprehensive project will attack the roots of the problem which stem out of grinding poverty, the aCreating awareness against child trafficking and child prostitution
sort of poverty which causes parents to hand their children over to child traffickers. It will provide aProviding education for girls

church, home group, family,

This Christmas please, as a

praying for an end to this

opportunities for work in the community to alleviate poverty, through Microenterprise initiatives

www.tearfund.org.nz or call 0800 800 777 (24 hrs)

aProviding pastoral and psycho-social counselling to victims of

workplace or individual,

envelope provided. You can also donate online at

evil and depraved trade.
giving to this appeal and
help the child victims of
and offer these child victims the chance to return safely to their communities, receive counselling

trafficking in Nepal, by

Please tear off this coupon and enclose in the

and gain new vocational skills. Most of all, they can know the love of Christ through this practical
demonstration of his love through our church-based Christian partner, Share and Care Nepal.
It will also protect the vulnerable by educating communities about the deceptions used by
traffickers, while project staff will work closely with Nepalese authorities to bring to justice the
perpetrators of this unconscionable evil.
This Christmas would you please as a church, family or individual join with us to give a
new life to the Lost Children of the Himalayas? Together we can make a lasting difference for
Nepal’s victims of child trafficking and stop these vultures preying on the nation’s children.
child trafficking
aWorking with local government to apprehend traffickers
aProviding vocational skills training to trafficked victims
aAssisting in reintegration of trafficked victims into society
aAdvocating and lobbying Government for tougher legislation on
trafficking
aProviding medical support for trafficked and HIV/AIDs victims
aImproving the health and well-being of vulnerable children
aImproving the ability of parents to produce food to earn an income
aCreating jobs through Microenterprise initiatives