In Nepal, women are increasingly
the victims of sexual abuse and drugs, and the country has become a
focal point for the trafficking of prostitutes into India.
This is
because of the poverty of a society that has been without a government
for more than a year and which is currently in the throes of economic
crisis.
So says Sister Ambrose Jaya, an Indian religious of the Holy
Cross.
The nun has been working for 20 years with the poor in the town
of Bhairhawa in the Terai region, hub of human trafficking between
India and Nepal.
"We religious and priests - she says - try to help
these people not to fall and try to meet their needs."
Each year more than 7 thousand Nepalese women are sent to India
to be forced into prostitution.
Another problem is the broken families,
with men and women abroad for work and children at home, with a high
risk of abuse and exploitation of child labor.
"When we go out onto the streets - Jaya says Sister - we see
poor but also wealthy families fleeing abroad in order to survive. Many
parents entrust their children to relatives or friends. This leaves a
void in the lives of children which often leads them to become victims
of social ills such as drugs, alcohol, sexual abuse. "
To help these people, sister Jaya and her sisters are visiting
villages and bringing prostitutes, girls who are victims of abuse, or
poor women without a family back to their convent.
The sisters offer
spiritual help to these women and teach them to read and write to help
them find a job.
"In this country - says Sr. Jaya - there is a great
need for the presence of missionaries as messengers of peace between the
poor and abandoned. We must listen to the voice of the voiceless, to
heal the wounds of the hearts of these people. "
SIC: AN/INT'L