This is a 20 minutes documentary which I had completed as part of my Masters Final Project at University College Falmouth. It is about the growing issues of child labour in Nepal. In a country where poverty and illiteracy rate is very high, children are forced to work as domestic servants by their parents. With no income to rely on, daughters have become their main source of survival.Several decades have passed since the practice of Kamlari started. This is practiced among indigenous Tharu community who are mainly sharecroppers and live with a mere earning of $1 a day. What started once as a tradition has now become a cultural norm.
I was shocked when I first learnt about Kamlari practice. It is with a big regret that daughters like me are being sold off just for a mere earning of Rs 2000 yearly. This is being practiced in the outskirts of the Kathmandu Valley, in Terai Region. Here, more than 11,000 girls have been sold and end up working for the countries elites at private homes, restaurants and are frequently abused and neglected. Most of the slaved daughters are then brought in the capital, Kathmandu, and end up working for long hours without much pay.
This documentary highlights the social issues of these vulnerable daughters and how different daughters can be treated if you come from a poor family. Besides that I have also interviewed NGO’s and Human Rights to find out more about their involvement and to what extent they have been successful in bringing an end to this outrageous custom. Today, this practice has been completely abolished yet in some ways it is still being practiced as the government has failed to outlook root causes like poverty discrimination and poverty alleviation. With ongoing political uprising how likely is the government to fulfill their demands? Thousands of former Kamlari’s marched down the streets in the capital demanding rehabilitation in January. Therefore, I believe the Nepalese government should take into consideration these Kamlari’s who have been rescued and in return rehabilitate them. They play a vital role in bringing change in the country as every children are tomorrow’s future to build the country.
No matter what, these children are hungry to learn and have the capability. They have explored and learnt life like non of us at their age has experienced. Yet they are always smiling and hoping for a fruitful outcome that one day they all shall be treated as one and not be outcast. Thus, with a hope to raise awareness of such culture in Nepal, International media and its audience, this documentary was completed in June.
