Life after graduation
SGT alumnae are not only safe—a huge victory in itself—they are also confident, capable, and ready to take on new challenges. And they’re appreciative and want to give back. We give them opportunities to do both.
Girls giving back to SGT
Alums are ideal ambassadors for SGT. Trust is vital when trying to change a behavior as undiscussable as trafficking. Wherever possible, we leverage our grassroots network of alums—young women who know the communities and are deeply respected—and hire them as support or afterschool teachers.
The alums are close to the girls in the schools and the local mothers’ groups, so they can help identify girls at risk. They are role models for the younger girls. And they are our ears, hearing about the girl who is about to be married at fifteen or the one who is going to be sent away to work, and taking action to intervene. We help girls, and now those girls are helping other girls.
Girls giving back to their communities
Motivated by what they learned from SGT, alum groups have begun taking leadership roles in making change happen in their communities.
Four young women from the Dhangadhi alumnae group wanted to stop school dropouts and early marriage in their community. With great hope and tamped expectations, we funded them. And they were rock stars, conducting weekly meetings with mothers and daughters. Since the program began, not a single girl has been given away to child marriage, and they even encouraged some dropouts to return to school.
Building temporary houses in Lalitpur
Reena Tamang and Gita Adhikari’s homes, like most others in Lalitpur, were wrecked by the 2015 earthquakes. The first few nights they slept outside. Then weeks passed in leaking, makeshift lean-tos. Reena and Gita got the other women from their alum group together and sent us a proposal. We gave them the funding and they did the rest: bought bamboo poles and tin sheeting, organized the villagers, and helped them build monsoon-ready structures. Within weeks 100 families had a secure place to call home, and the 12 SGT alums who began their lives like many Nepali girls—considered of little value—are village heroes.
