Miscellaneous
Danuwar’s biography launched
Sunita Danuwar’s biography ‘Anshu ko Shakti’ (Power of Tears), a tale of the long walk to empowerment of a teenage girl sold to a brothel in Mumbai, India, was launched on Monday.Sunita Danuwar’s biography ‘Anshu ko Shakti’ (Power of Tears), a tale of the long walk to empowerment of a teenage girl sold to a brothel in Mumbai, India, was launched on Monday.
The book shows how 14-year-old Danuwar was tricked by a friend and a truck driver to finally land in a brothel where she was forced to be a sex worker.
The 42-year old has revealed how hundreds of Nepali teenage girls come back home to find love and to start a new life like her.
Danuwar’s revolutionary character is shown in the book when she explains the motive behind establishing the Shakti Samuha in 1997, an organisation that helps with rehabilitation of trafficking survivors. She also details her hard work and determination that earned her two international awards.
“The motive behind writing my story is to help inspire thousands of women who have suffered similar fate. I hope my story will help them get out of the stigma of having worked in a brothel. My story is just one of the many out there waiting to be told,” said Danuwar.
The winner of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award (2013) and the Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award (20015) also appealed to the society to help rehabilitate trafficking survivors.
“Organisations can’t keep these women forever. After a year or so they have to return to their family. But when the family and the society do not accept them where will they go? There is a chance of them falling back in the same vicious circle they had just escaped,” she explained.
The book was launched by former prime minister and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, who praised Danuwar for being bold enough to share her story of exploitation and empowerment. “We need to work on education and protection of the girl child,” said Oli. The book is published by Ghost Writing Nepal.