Anuradha Koirala

 

Not many people know who Anuradha Koirala is though she has saved more than 12,000 girls from sex slavery and prevented 45,000 children and women from being trafficked (kids given injections and raped 20 times a day)at the India-Nepali border. She gets death threats every day. She is the real hero. She isn't celebrity she is ordinarily human with extraordinary compassion, and empathy for humanity. God bless her with strength. 

Born in 14 April 1949 to Colonel Pratap Singh Gurung and Laxmi Gurung, Anuradha Koirala was brought up in a family that regarded providing services for humankind as the best form of pious work. She studied in  Saint Joseph Convent School Kalimpong, India. At the school, sisters and mother further increased her devotion towards the social work.

For more than twenty years, she taught English at various reputed schools of Kathmandu. Mother Teresa was the biggest source of inspiration to initiate a mission for the betterment of humankind. Therefore , in 1993 Ms. Koirala founded Maiti Nepal with the aim of providing services for both children and women who have endured untold pain and suffering, often in silence. Children ,girls and women were being trafficked within and from Nepal for commercial sexual exploitaion. She set up Maiti Nepal with a vow to put an end to this heinous crime.

After establishing Maiti Nepal, she plunged into the service of humanity. Her first work was setting up of a rehabilitation home so that she could provide a home to those who have nowhere else to turn to. Now, Maiti Nepal has three prevention homes, nine transit homes, two hospices and a high school. More than one thousand children are getting direct services from Maiti Nepal everyday. She made it possible with her firm determination and unprecedented leadership.

Maiti Nepal today conducts a wide range of activities. Conducting awareness campaigns, community Sensitization, rescue operations, Apprehending Traffickers, providing legal support to the needy, women empowerment programmes, providing anti retro viral therapy(ART) to children and women infected BY HIV are regular activities of Maiti Nepal.

So far, Anuradha koirala has been provided 30 national and international award in recognition of her courageous acts and lifetime acheivement furthering the cause of children's and women's rights. Some of the international awards includes German UNIFEM Prize 2007, Queen Sofia Silver Medal  Award 2007,  The Peace Abbey, Courage of Conscience  2006 etc. Her achievements include liberating twelve thousand girls from brothels, providing ART before the government of Nepal could initiate this process. Due to her continuous struggle, Governmment of Nepal recognized anti –trafficking day, which falls on 5 September. This endeavour was initiated by Maiti Nepal. She was also appointed as a state minister  as an honour to her contributions.

Ms. Koirala loves spending time with children, they say that they get a warmth of mother and a father. She is self motivated person relishing new and dynamic challenges with a leadership role if required in a team environment or independently.

On 23rd September Ms. Koirala was selected as Top-10 CNN Heros. The global voting through the website of CNN would determine CNN hero of the year. It was the  result of her struggle and compassion to fight the social evil of human trafficking , that CNN has recognized her as a TOP 10 Heroes of the world list. This honour to the daughter of Nepal is a Pride for our Nation. On 25th  November 2010 she was declared as CNN Hero of the year through global on line voting . Her victory as a CNN Hero is a pride and honour to the nation itself.