Kathmandu: What Could Dignified Employment Do?

I hope you don't miss the rhyming in that title. 

Tara has begun her trek back to St. Louis while Dawn wraps up the trip with one last city.

Thank you, Wikipedia, for giving us an idea of where Dawn is today! (Isn't the internet wonderful?)This is Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. To save you the trouble of Googling to find out where Nepal is, we've got a map.

And that little dot labeled "Kathmandu" is where the plane will drop our traveler off today. Dawn's almost to the end of her journey, even though the story will continue in the partnerships and relationships that have been developed on this trip. Dawn has been giving us tidbits here and there about the amazing #CreabeliConnections she has been making. 

So, since we have yet to hear about her connections in Kathmandu, let's learn a little bit about the country and the issues they face in regard to trafficking.

As we've talked about with previous cities, poverty is a major contributor to trafficking in Nepal. 

And as staggering a statistic as that is, that only represents the overall poverty rate. In western regions of the country, the percentage goes up to as high as 46%. The global poverty line right now is at about $1.25 per day for wages, which means that there are a lot of people living in Nepal who are desperate for fair wages.

Nepal has an open border with India, meaning that they have open trade with each other and almost a deregulated border. This makes trade between the two nations much easier, but unfortunately, it also means that nearly ten thousand women from Nepal are trafficked into India's sex trade. Nepali children are also often trafficked into Indian circuses with promises of stardom and mistreated terribly. 

We've talked about sex trafficking in India already, but for the Nepali women who are trafficked into the Indian sex trade, not only are they forced into a horrible line of abusive, coercive work, but they are displaced from their homeland. Often women have no idea where they are once they have been brought into a new red light district and no idea of how they would get home if they tried to escape.

As far as employment goes, much of Nepal is unemployed, many make a living as farmers, but the average income is $490 per year. If you can imagine trying to pay your bills on such a small amount per month, you can empathize with parents who allow their children to work in circuses, thinking they will be able to send money home and will be taken care of. What would happen if #DignifiedEmployment became the trend instead? How could job skills and fair wages radically change this country? 

We're excited to hear about Dawn's connections during her time there and hoping to hear how we can partner with Nepali organizations to create beautiful lives!

Now, it's January 29th, which means that you have TWO DAYS left to be a shopping super hero. Don't know what I'm talking about? Check out the blog that tells all about it!