After being freed, Gita got a chance to participate in a training program where she learned to cook Samosa, Pakauda and Jeri. With Rs 36,000 provided by a couple of local NGOs, Gita opened her own food joint. Now, Gita even owns her own piece of land. “We will soon move to our own house,” she said, serving tea to her customers.
Gita has named her tea shop Lawajuni, which means new life in Tharu language. “This is my new life,” she says. Gita´s parents, who sent their first daughter to work in a local landlord´s house as a Kamlari for monthly salary of Rs 500, are upbeat too. She also has been supporting her siblings´ education.
Srijana Chaudhary, who hails from the same village, shares a similar story. She now owns a photo studio. “Initially, I used to blush whenever I had to click photos. But I gradually got used to it,” she says.
Srijana says her new avatar as a photographer has earned her dignity in her community. “Earlier, local landlords used to abuse me,” she says. “But, they respect me now.”
In the Mid and Far west, there are a number of former Kamlaris, who have transformed their lives.
Although Kamlaris -- poor Tharu girls sent by their parents to work in local landlords´ houses --were freed after the government´s declaration on July 17, 2000, scores of landlords still retain Kamlaris. In Dang alone, more than a hundred landlords continue to keep Kamlaris
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