Maya – changing her fate
While talking with STOP Girl Trafficking students in a classroom, the SGT team noticed a little girl in a tattered uniform listening from outside. They spoke to her afterwards and learned her name was Maya, and her teachers recommended she be included in SGT.
Maya’s father died when she was just a baby, and her mother couldn’t afford to pay for her children’s education. Maya's eldest sister left school to help care for the family when she was just 8 years old and married at age 16. Her other sister dropped out and was sent to Kathmandu to work as a domestic servant. If SGT had not found her, Maya would also have become a child laborer.
When she first joined SGT, Maya couldn’t read or write and had a difficult time in school. With lots of hard work and support from her Friday teacher, she improved, and now Maya is in grade 7 and catching up to her friends. She still has to do a lot of work around the house and walks an hour each way to school, but she is determined to fulfill her dream of finishing school and helping support her mother.
