285: keeping girls at home and in school in Nepal

Today's linked article, from the San Francisco Chronicle, is a great insight into one woman's quest to help others. Olga Murray lives in Sausalito for six months of the year, but she spends the rest of her time in Nepal. She has lived there on and off since the mid-1980s when she was a volunteer. She discovered then that many poor families were selling their daughters into servitude to make ends meet. Shocked and disturbed by this, Murray came up with the idea that if the families had pigs or other animals to raise and sell, coupled with support to put girls through school, then the daughters might be able to return and stay home. She convinced 32 families to try this experiment at first, and it worked. Since then, her organization, the Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation, has kept around 3000 girls from slavery in the Tharu district and has begun to replicate this success in nearby Bardiya, where about 500 girls have been freed from indentured labour since January this year. Many of these girls have become passionate advocates against servitude. Meanwhile, Murray - now aged 83 - continues her own fundraising, campaigning and oversight of NYOF schools, scholarships and other activities. What an inspiration!