The average age of girls being trafficked in Nepal is 15 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 sexualhealth 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 $3,375 for this important cause!
THE PROGRAM
Last year, in November 2016, Art to Healing launched the Women's Wellness Program (WWP).
This program delivered vital therapeutic support, education and leadership programs to 55 women and girls who have experienced sex slavery, commercial sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.
In addition, the WWP program provided important education on life-skills, art therapy, yoga for women, reproductive health, self-care, trauma recovery for sexual abuse, conscious birthing, fertility and conscious sexuality, and menstrual health and the wisdom of women's cycles.
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.
This increases the ripple effect of our work, and through this sustainable model, this work was able to reach an additional 312 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. 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, this {Women's Wellness} Program 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 to the Art to Healing Team.
This training has helped me to change the negativity about menstruation for me, and now I have many reasons of 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.
In addition, from the subjective stories shared by our participants from last year, we learnt about the cultural practice of "CHAUPADI".
Imagine living in a place where every month, you needed to leave your village because you were menstruating. Where every month you were cast out, separated from your family, your siblings, your parents or children and your home, because you were considered unclean.
What if, when you first menstruated, you were locked away in a shed for 10 days, in the extreme cold or the heat of summer, to ensure that you didn’t come into contact with anyone, especially your male relatives.
What if you were never taught about your menstruation, didn’t understand what it was the first time it happened, and knew nothing about sanitary health?
For many girls in Nepal, this is their reality. The word for menstruation in Nepalese is 'Nochune' which literally means 'no touch’. ‘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 cow shed or a makeshift hut because they are considered ‘impure’ when menstruating. When a girl menstruates for the first time, she must stay in the cow shed for 10 days.
Last year two young women died while confined to a cow shed.
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.
This year in June 2017, Art to Healing intends to return to Nepal, to deliver the same therapeutic and leadership program renamed as the Women’s Transformational Program (WTP).
We seek to provide this education and therapeutic support to a new group of 55 girls and women who have experienced sexual servitude, exploitation and abuse.
We also intend to invite 2 women from local anti-trafficking NGOs from the far Western District of Nepal, where the issue of ‘Chhaupadi’ is prevalent. They will in turn go back to their local rural communities and school, to educate and provide therapeutic support for the girls and women there.
Our activities include:
1. Therapeutic support for sexual abuse and trauma through clinical group and individual therapy for over 55 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 NEED YOUR HELP TO RAISE $3,375 for this important cause!
How?
We are inviting you to fund 25 participants attending the program.
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 for over 55 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 birthing, fertility and sacred sexuality, and menstrual health and the wisdom of women's cycles through a 9 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.
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 participant: $15/day.
“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.”
- Maya (not her real name) Sex trafficked survivor, WWP 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, non for profit organisation, 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 (9 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!
This exquisite 150 cm x 150 cm Australian Hand made Quilt by artist Criss Sharp valued at AUD$700 has been donated generously to Art to Healing.
A write up about the quilt by the artist Criss Sharp herself:
"we cooled ourselves in the deep blue pools. At night the reflected light from our candles danced in a circle, and we sang, and spoke of Rumi. Outside in the early morning the people worked their crops in the lush green fields, while the children ran through the lanes with their kites, laughing.'
Both beautiful cushion covers are made of cotton and made by Richard Waterfield, a great textile artist in his eighties. The dimensions are 50 cm x 50 cm, and they are valued at $100 AUD.
The cushions are painstakingly pieced together from beautiful cotton fabric from Mexico. Richards view on life is what is the point of being here if youmcan't make a positive difference to the life of someone doing it tough.
