During her day-long visit, Halliwell visited impoverished areas of Niglihawa and Taulihawa VDCs and talked to the women in the villages about their problems and issues and promised to highlight these in the global arena.
On her visit, she met up with women who were intercepted while being taken for sale in India just a day before. The four women were rescued by the Nepal police in a border town in Kapilvastu and brought to a safe home run by Sathi, an NGO working against trafficking and other women´s issues.
Two 21-year old women, one who is 31 and a 29-year-old were being taken by a "pimp" to a border Indian town with false promises of jobs for them in Kuwait.
The culprit had been arrested twice before. "We were told that we would go on to Kuwait, but later found out that this was a lie," one of them told Halliwell. "I did not know we were being sold," added another.
Halliwell later told myrepublica.com that the kind of work being done by the police and Sathi should be encouraged. "I feel relieved that the women are now at the safe home," Halliwell said.
At Sathi, she also met with a 20-year old mother who suffered from domestic violence including sexual abuse by her father-in-law. Kalika (not her real name) said she never felt safe at home and came to the safe home fearing for the health of her unborn baby. "I can´t go back home," the mother of a three-month-old baby said.
In Nighlihawa, Halliwell met women who suffered from uterine prolapse (also known as fallen womb), at a local health post. The health post officer told myrepublica.com that at least 100 patients per day visit the only health center in the area and of these at least five suffer from uterine prolapse.
"Many women in developing countries die unnecessarily during childbirth. And many of them also suffer from the horrible condition (of fallen womb) afterwards, which they should not have," she told myrepublica.com.
Fallen womb is one of the biggest maternal health problems in Nepal, a condition triggered by unassisted labor, inadequate obstetric care and some harmful practices after delivery, such as insufficient diet or very tight binding of the abdomen as well as premature return to heavy daily work, according to UNFPA.
At least one in 10 women suffers from uterine prolapse in Nepal, with Kapilvastu having one of the highest maternal mortality rates.
In Niglihawa VDC, Halliwell talked to female community health volunteers who expressed concern about their work and the health of women in their villages.
Thankala Poudel, 39, who has been involved with community health since 1994 shared her experiences working as a community health volunteer and the challenges she faces every day.
"There are people who think we are doing this because we do not have any work," Poudel told Halliwell.
Halliwell later said it was exemplary work that they were doing "helping each other out when in need."
The female community health volunteers work to provide vaccination, maternal health support, safe motherhood training and information on adolescent reproductive health, amongst other things.
Rupa Tharu, 19, informed Halliwell about how the cooperative-owned "emergency obstetric care fund" in her village helped her give birth to a baby boy "in a safe environment. "The baby would have died if I had not reached there in time."
"Every girl, no matter who, should get the opportunity for a good education because then society benefits from it, the well-being and economy of the village will improve," Halliwell told myrepublica.com. In Kapilvastu, the average literacy rate for women is less than 30 percent.
"This kind of visit helps one understand what the reality is like on the ground. What Geri sees helps her to tell the story of women who are taking control over their lives to the world," Ian McFarlane, UNFPA Representative in Nepal told myrepublica.com.
"The idea of her coming is primarily to enable her to talk about the issues of Nepali women on global level to make more people aware of those issues."
Halliwell, mother of a three-year old daughter, is an UNFPA-United Nations Population Fund Goodwill Ambassador and has been working on issues of gender-based violence and maternity health for almost a decade.
Halliwell, who is in Nepal on a three-day visit, is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal on Wednesday for the launching of a campaign to stop violence against women.
subel@myrepublica.com
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