Ending domestic slavery in Nepal - fighting for freedom | DW Documentary

Sold into slavery at six years old, Urmila Chaudhary is now fighting for freedom, justice and a future for girls in Nepal. Can her activism bring change? [Online until: 01.03.2019]
The documentary ‘Urmila: My Memory is My Power’ tells the optimistic story of a young woman fighting for freedom, justice and a future for young girls in Nepal. Urmila Chaudhary lives in southern Nepal and was six years old when her parents sold her into slavery as a "Kamalari”, or domestic slave, in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu. Twelve years came and went before she could regain her freedom.
Former slave Urmila is not satisfied with just being free herself. She draws the strength she needs from her own experiences to fight for other girls in her country. Full of hope, she supports the "Freed Kamalari Development Forum” (FKDF) in challenging the system of indentured servitude - which has officially been abolished - and with it, her home’s centuries-old social structures. Already, Urmila and her fellow campaigners have freed about 13,000 girls. Urmila also raises awareness beyond Nepal’s borders. She travels to other continents and delivers gripping speeches, like at the Oslo Freedom Forum. At the same time, she has set herself a goal that some would say is impossible to reach: She wants to become a lawyer and keep changing her home country Nepal. But first, she needs to complete her high school degree, because like most Kamalari, she was originally denied a formal education. Now twenty-five years old, Urmila is finding it increasingly difficult to reconcile her studies and her activism. But why does she have to choose a single path at all?
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