Orientation/ Welcome

In the morning the girls have meditation and prayer and then karate. Afte karate we had breakfast and then a welcome. We all sat on chairs and the girls did some beautiful dancing for us. Then they had us shut out eyes and when we opened them they had this huge canvas poster made with our faces on it and an adjective. They had facebooked us and picked a picture. Well the one they picked for me is hilariously old and my name was Juicy Jessica 😂.
Then they put scarves on us and a tikka- the red dot. After that they had made us each cards and then more dancing. They then introduced themselves and told us what they want to be when the grew up. There are 50 girls of all ages and they are so cute.
Following this the girls left and we had a meeting with the founder of the shelter. She is an inspiration and so incredible.
Here are some notes I took while listening:
Raksha Nepal
-6 and 8 year old boys found on street almost dead, older brother was feeding younger brother dirt to keep him alive - father's brother raped mom and then she committed suicide
-13 year old raped by own brother and gave birth came in at 3 month old- father died in earthquake mother went to kwait brother was 18 mother said to look after sister brother began to do drugs and raped sister repeatedly mother would call and check in and brother never said anything. Neighbors didn't know- in Nepal in very poor areas they don't care- once she gave birth people found out and he police brought her to the shelter
-3 year old gang raped by uncle
- can't have kids
-during natural disasters one of the biggest issues is trafficking people come in and say we want to give your daughter education in Kathmandu and so children get sucked into trafficking
-parents will send their kids to the city bc they have no options and an "ngo" is offering education
- sometimes women lose their husbands or need work and get sucked into prostitution
- lots of girls do have families but going home isn't safe
- 50 girls two types of victims one from their own family those never go home the others who were victims of teachers or neighbors home is welcome but there is social discrimination
-sex traffic and exploration is very taboo and shameful
- of the 50, 31 perpetrators are in jail, a few are under investigation - This shelter has a legal team
- girls are referred here because the owner is known in the community and with the police
-victims take a long time to heal their soul, they are here for a long time
-15 of the girls are on medication for psycho-social
- one girl was raped by 4 people when she identified the perp they had a lot of money and were not sent to jail- she now is studying to be a judge
-5 raped by teacher
-10 by uncle
- 5 from father
-2 from grandfather
- some gang raped
- all of these girls who are abused by their family sometimes they can't come to the shelter others can
- according to the psychologist it takes a lifetime to rebuild jay emotional damage
- they are triggered by things for example they took the girls to the movie and the movie talked about a rape. One girl couldn't attend school for a month after bc of the memories and damage it resurfaced.
- they do self defense every morning as well as yoga and meditation
-there is not another organization who is giving this type of relief or shelter
- the founder said she would never have criteria or stipulations on who she would help because as a child she couldn't get help bc she didn't meet the criteria - she takes in anyone who needs help
-when a girl first enters (25% from police 25%government ...
They see a psychologist then legal support is provided - only within 35 days can you arrest a perpetrator - have to go to medical test within 24 hours
But people from villages have to walk 5-7 days to get to the city to a Dr
- if a girl tells her story to family many times family will shame them and tell them they are bad and why would they accept that
- girls who come to this shelter did not come here easily
- takes a long time for the girls to build trust with the shelter they give them 3 months and then they put them on a schedule with the rest of the girls
-girls are looked at as less than
-gangsters or political power men have these restaurants with singing or dancing but behind the doors is prostitution so menuka began to speak up
- 1 year ago they bought bigger property which gives girls more confidence , more space to take more people
- no child protective services here parent owns right to child at all times no matter what
- kids are all renamed for their protection

It was a powerful meeting and so emotional to listen and hear about these stories. The girls are so happy and full of smiles and resonance. They are kind and well behaved.

Once our meeting was over we got onto buses with the girls and headed to a gondola which they had been wanting to do for some time so we had this outing with them. We each paired with a girl and went up the mountain in our gondola. It was beautiful. The dog came in think though and was a white out. At the top was a park we played in and there was a temple atop as well.
We ordered some moma that was so so so spicy like inedible. Then we headed back down the mountain when the rain stopped.
When you travel with a group of 100 it takes a long time to organize so getting home took a long time.
Once back home I discovered part of why we were getting so many spiders is because there is a missing panel in our window so I used a plastic bag and some big spray and patched that up. Good thing too bc this morning there was a monster spider on window outside our door.
That night we went to prayer and meditation. We all sit in a room on the floor and clap and chant while the drums are played and someone is singing.