Nepal's child marriage survivors dare to dream

Despite laws, the Himalayan nation is home to 5.3 million child brides, says UNICEF

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(UCAN) Inside a one-bedroom rented apartment in the heart of Nepal's capital Kathmandu, Prati (not her real name) is busy poring over notes from the Japanese language class she joined in the second week of January this year.

The 24-year-old dreams of going to Japan for work, which she hopes will help her stand on her own feet. Then, she plans to seek custody of her two children, who live with her estranged husband.

Just a year ago, this vision of a better future seemed impossible. Prati was forced to marry a man over 10 years older than her at the age of 16, became a mother at 17, and was subjected to physical and mental violence for years.

"She was withdrawn, quiet, and hopeless," said Junu Shrestha, a counselor at Opportunity Village Nepal (OVN), a non-governmental organization run by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Pokhara, in western Nepal.

Prati was sheltered for a year at an OVN safe house after she was rescued from the Nepal-India border by the Kaski district police in December 2023.

"It was only after a couple of weeks of counseling that she began sharing her traumatic past," Shrestha said. Even then, she spoke very little, letting her emotions flow on paper.

It is illegal for girls under the age of 18 to marry in Nepal. However, the practice continues due to patriarchy and poverty.

After nearly a year of counseling and training as a beautician and jewelry designer, Prati returned to her parental home on Dec. 28 last year. Within a few weeks, she was moved to Kathmandu to take Japanese language classes as part of the rehabilitation process.

The trauma began at her home in Syangja district, some 548 kilometers (155 miles) west of Kathmandu.

Prati had just sat for her 10th-grade final exams when her father told her she would marry a laborer working in Qatar.