An example of this is the interception of a leading child trafficking agent, 68 year old Kirta Tamang, earlier this month. We had received a tip off from a villager in the south of the country that Tamang was heading to India with nine children that he was taking to the Rambo Circus. My partner Director in Nepal, Shailaja, responded immediately by leading a team of our field staff in hot pursuit. After a lot of searching at two railway stations in the northern state of Bihar, they found the agent hiding in bushes with the children. He was apprehended and the party returned to Nepal with the children. It transpired that Tamang was grandfather to two of the children that he was trafficking; it is not unusual for traffickers to be related to their victims.
Kirta Tamang is now in police custody (the adjacent picture shows him handc
uffed and in the back of a police vehicle) and he now faces a trial that could lead to the maximum prison sentence of 20 years. The children have come to our refuge in Godawari, near Kathmandu, as they are at risk of being re-trafficked or, more imminently, of being influenced by Tamang's family members to concoct a story as to what they were doing in India. Perhaps some kind of a family excursion with dear old grandad?The fundraising challenge that was dropped on me was to find the additional care costs of the children (pictured right with Shailaja, centre back). This amounts to £45 per child, per
month. That's means a total of £405 per month or £4860 per year has been suddenly added to the budget. And of course there is every possibility that these children will stay with us until they come of age so multiply the total annual figure by 10 and you're getting close to the actual long term costs. Already one kind supporter (and blog reader) has responded by covering the first month of costs.The fight against child trafficking comes at a price. Any takers for another month?
