Empowerment Center Phase II Updates
With your help and generosity during our GlobalGiving Crowdfunding Campaign, we were able to complete Phase I (assessment and land transfer) for our Girl’s Empowerment Center & Dormitory in Fall 2018, and now we are working to raise the remaining funds to complete Phase II.
The Empowerment Center located in Nuwakot, the #1 child trafficking district of Nepal, addresses the root causes of child orphan and sex trafficking, which are illiteracy and lack of finances. The center, which will be located next to the Secondary School, includes a 55-bed dormitory (so that girls who live over a 2.5-hour trek can attend class), a study room, garden/farm, kitchen, and a Buddhist prayer room. An accompanying leadership program and social entrepreneurial development program will be integrated into their curriculum.
The entire project, which is inclusive of earthquake-resistant construction technology, program management, and a scholarship component is estimated to cost USD $200,000.
Global Orphan Prevention’s efforts in much of 2019 have been focused on development, meeting with corporate partners and planning for our first annual #Passport2Freedom Gala on August 24th, 2019 in Denver Colorado that will help us reach our funding goal and close the gaps. We travel to Nepal to break ground on the Empowerment Center shortly after our signature fundraising event concludes.
MISSING GIRLS INVESTIGATION:
During our investigative work in Nepal last Fall, we collected data and photographs of the missing girls and passed them off to our partner rescue organizations who have been working tirelessly in Kathmandu and India to track them down. We’ve received wonderful news a couple of weeks ago that six girls have been located and are awaiting extraction. Let’s pause for a moment of mindfulness that they are successful in their efforts and that these children are reunited with their families!
Our partner organizations are working together, continuing their efforts in collaboration with our own:
- Love Justice International: Through transit monitoring and interception, we attack trafficking at the most strategic moment—while it is in the process of occurring and BEFORE exploitation and enslavement. They have intercepted over 16,000 people from slavery, exploitation, and abuse.
- Justice Ventures International: JVI partners with local organizations and global stakeholders to bring freedom, justice, and restoration to men, women, and children suffering from human trafficking and other forms of extreme injustice.
- Operation Underground Railroad: has gathered the world’s experts in extraction operations and in anti-child trafficking efforts to bring an end to child slavery. O.U.R.’s Underground Jump Team consists of former CIA, Navy SEALs, and Special Ops operatives that lead coordinated identification and extraction efforts. These operations are always in conjunction with law enforcement throughout the world. Once victims are rescued, a comprehensive process involving justice for the perpetrators and recovery and rehabilitation for the survivors begins.
Your generosity has supported all of this vital work, and we thank you for making the smart choice to donate cash to support us in preventing orphan trafficking and child sex trafficking. We cannot do this without you!
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With Gratitude,
Katie Hilborn
Founder/ED