Pacific Cinematheque
USA, 2004, 6 min
Directed by Julie Bridgham, Produced by Channel G
In western Nepal, many indigenous families subsist as farm laborers. Unable to make ends meet, thousands of them have been forced into a desperate trade selling their daughters to work in faraway cities as bonded servants. trailer
Some of these little girls are as young as six! The situation is tailor-made for abuse. Some of these girls never return home. The lucky ones get to work from dawn to dusk. Very few of these girls attend school. The fathers receive an average of $50 a year for their daughters‘ services and the girl gets nothing. The families don‘t want to sell their daughters‘ labor, but they can‘t do without the income. The average national income is only $200. Women are extremely disadvantaged in Nepali culture. They are the last fed and educated. Many of the young girls in NYOF‘s Indentured Daughters Program are the first girls in their families to receive an education. Working closely with local communities, NYOF helps parents bring their daughters home from the city and provide a tiny piglet or goat much valued in this culture which the families can raise on food scraps and sell for more than their daughters would have earned. NYOF pays all of the expenses for the girls to attend the local school, and provides the school uniforms, books, kerosene lamps, so they may study at night as there is no electricity. 
Over 3,000 girls, newly freed and empowered, now attend school under NYOF‘s auspices. It is estimated that between 10-15,000 girls are sold annually. NYOF‘s goal is to eliminate this practice from all of Nepal. The Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation (NYOF) is a U.S. based, non-profit organization devoted to bringing hope to the most destitute children in the beautiful but impoverished country of Nepal. With a personal touch, NYOF provides them with what should be every child¹s birthright education, housing, medical care and loving support.
Director Julie Bridgham
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