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Trauma support for sex slaves Nepal

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As you read these words, there are 200,000 Nepali women trafficked into India's brothels.

The average age of girls being trafficked in Nepal is 12 y years old.

Many of these girls are forced to have sex up to 40 times a day.

This does not include the torture, beatings, and abuse they suffer.

The trauma that these women have experienced is unimaginable.

Many women and girls who have experienced the above suffer from reproductive and sexual health issues, such as STIs and HIV/AIDs, lack of self-esteem, menstrual issues, self-hatred, depression and anxiety.

Moreover, due to the patriarchal culture in Nepal, most women do not value being women, wishing they were born boys instead of girls. This cultural mindset which encourages oppression against women results in girls and women being sold into sex slavery. These are the girls and women that Art to Healing work with.


Art to Healing wishes to change this!

We wish to see a world where women are equally respected.

We wish to live in a world where women LOVE themselves wholeheartedly,
are connected to their bodies and their wisdom,
and who are supported to heal with other women.

We wish for this to be a reality, not just an idea.

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO RAISE funding for this important cause!


THE PROGRAM

The Women's Transformational Program (WTP) delivers vital therapeutic support, education and leadership programs to women and girls who have experienced sex slavery, commercial sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.

In addition, WTP provides important education on life-skills, art therapy, trauma-informed yoga for women, reproductive health, self-care, trauma recovery for sexual abuse, and menstrual health.

A unique element of Art to Healing programs is that we educate participants in our therapeutic programs how to teach and provide therapeutic support to other sex trafficked survivors through our leadership and Training for Trainer’s programs, making them peer educators in that process.

This increases the ripple effect of our work, and through this sustainable model, this work is able to reach additional secondary beneficiaries who live in the slums, brothels, venues of commercial sexual exploitation, the streets of Kalanki (where sex slavery is the most prevalent after the 2015 earthquake), the villages and remote communities of Nepal. In our 2017 evaluations, we found that 18 of our past participants had spread the work to over 1,200 women, men and children in their communities, meaning that this program's impact is HUGE.


These are some of their testimonials:

"As a Nepali woman, I am very passionate to learn how to love our bodies, respect our emotions, and live in happiness. To reach this goal in Nepal, WTP is the only one big instrument to create such change."

- Hira Dahal, Director of Chhori, sex trafficking NGO, Kathmandu, Nepal, WWP Participant.

“This has been the best training program I have ever participated in. Thank you so much for the Art to Healing Team.

This training has helped me to change the negativity about menstruation for me, and now I have many reasons for being proud to be a woman. I am able to value myself now, and have the courage and understanding to feel my past experiences which I use to hide from.”

- Binu Lama, CAP Nepal, KTM Nepal. WWP participant.

"I was sold into sex slavery when I was 13 years old. Because of my past, I hated being a woman, I hated my period and I hated my reproductive organs because I felt that these were the reasons why bad things, like getting HIV/Aids and being sold, happened to me. I even went to the doctor to request for a hysterectomy, so that I could take my womb out, and stop my period because I hated having my period. I was told by my doctor that I was still young so they could not do the operation.

After participating in this training program (with Art to Healing), I have realised that I deserve to be loved for being a woman, and my reproductive organs and my womb deserve to be loved as well and they are important to me. I have realised the importance of self-care and loving myself. I am now proud to have been born a woman, and I can't wait to share this information I have learnt with my community. I will now continue to love myself and care for my body, and I know that being born female is a thing to be valued."

- Goma Rai, Shakti Milan Founder & Executive Director.


In addition, Nepal is a country that still practices the menstrual practice of 'Chhaupadi'. '

Chhaupadi’ is a social tradition in the western districts of Nepal, which isolates women when they are menstruating. When girls have their first period, they are locked in a cowshed or a makeshift hut because they are considered ‘impure’ when menstruating. When a girl menstruates for the first time, she must stay in the cowshed for 10 days.

Last year two young women died while confined to a cowshed.

This needs to stop. Art to Healing seeks to take action through education and healing in order to change this. Women and girl are not meant to die during their menstruation. They are meant to be celebrated and loved.


WE WANT YOU TO HELP THESE GIRLS AND WOMEN RECOVER FROM SEXUAL ABUSE, SLAVERY AND OPPRESSION.

Art to Healing needs your support to reach 100 women  and children with our art therapy programs, somatic psychology programs and the Women's Transformational Program in 2018. 

Our activities include:

1. Therapeutic support for sexual abuse and trauma through clinical group and individual therapy for 100 sex-trafficked women and children.

2. Education in life-skills, art therapy, yoga for women, reproductive health, self-care, trauma recovery for sexual abuse, conscious fertility and sexuality, and menstrual health and the wisdom of women's cycles through a 10-day training program.

3. Feminine leadership Training of Trainers (TOT), which will enable and empower the participants to be educators & leaders to a wider community of women and girls.

4. Continuation of Art to Healing’s mixed method research inquiry into how changing the relationship with menstruation and womanhood can improve the lives of girls and women who have experienced sex slavery, exploitation and abuse.

5. Running and expanding our Yoga and Trauma-Informed Programs in over 6 different anti-trafficking shelters for girls and women aged 12 – 35 years old.

We are inviting you to fund 100 participants attending our programs.

This amount will go directly to assist a local woman to receive:

1. Therapeutic support for sexual abuse and trauma through clinical group and individual therapy.

2. Education in life-skills, art therapy, yoga for women, reproductive health, self-care, trauma recovery for sexual abuse, conscious birthing, fertility and sacred sexuality, and menstrual health and the wisdom of women's cycles through a 10-day training program.

3. Feminine leadership Training of Trainers (TOT) and peer education training, which will enable and empower the participants to be educators & leaders to a wider community of women and girls.

In turn, these women will teach and provide other sex trafficked survivors in their community, improving health care and prevention of sex trafficking in rural areas to approximately 300 other women and girls in anti-trafficking shelters, drop-in centres, slums and brothels, and women rights organisations.

Funding Breakdown:

Cost of Training Venue and food for one participant: $15/day.

Cost for Training for 10 days: $15 x 10 = $105

Cost for 100 women: $150 x 100 = $15,000 AUD.

____________________________________________________________


“In the past, I used to feel very hopeless and bad about myself because I was born a woman.


I felt like I must have done something wrong in my past life to deserve such bad experiences in life. After these workshops, now I feel that I am not a bad person, and in fact, I am very proud to be a woman! I have hope for my future and I want to work towards a good future.”

- Prakriti (not her real name) Sex trafficked survivor, WTP Participant.

Why Donate to Art to Healing?

Because at Art to Healing, 100% of your money goes directly to the sex trafficked women and girls we support.

We are a 100% volunteer-run, values-driven, ACNC registered tax-deductible charity, that puts a whole lotta love, passion and compassion in what we do.

We believe that every woman and girl has a right to equality, social justice, education, kindness and healing resources so that we can live in a world free from slavery.

We take absolutely NO administrative fees, nor do we have any overheads in running our organisation.

Yes, everything you donate goes straight to funding a local Nepali woman who has experienced sexual abuse, slavery, and commercial sexual exploitation.

We have deep and long-standing relationships with these women and provide ongoing support (10 years in fact!) to oversee their recovery and growth to become leaders in their community through a feminine leadership model.

Come and join our fun and inspiring fundraising mission, spreading compassion, peace and love into the world!

Thank you!!

W: www.arttohealing.org
FB: www.facebook.com/arttohealing

Donations 

  • Alice Hong
    • $250
    • 2 yrs

Organizer

Art to Healing Australia
Organizer
Northcote, VIC

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