Nepalese survivors of the worst trauma reveal a spirit that can’t be locked in a cage and silenced
Kausila* was the first survivor I met. She was slight-boned but taller than me. Her face was thin, her eyes wary. I smiled as we were introduced. She nodded in return and then we sat to chat and I fumbled for words.
I’d been living in Nepal for about five years by that time and had been researching the stories of young women who had been trafficked into sex slavery. I knew I was going to write a novel. I’d collected newspaper clippings, trawled through archives, visited with the heads of various non-government organisations in Pokhara and Kathmandu. But I’d never really sat down and spoken with a survivor before. Not properly. Kausila was the first one. I felt suddenly and completely inadequate.
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Written by Penny Jaye
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jul/06/what-learned-sex-slavery-survivors-hope-isnt-easily-crushed under the title “
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