Clifford Yudelman, who organised Anuradha Koirala's visit to Australia, is holding an exhibition of photographs titled 'Reflections on Nepal.'
A CHANCE encounter on a flight in Nepal led Nepalese activist and 2010 CNN Hero of the Year Anuradha Koirala to visit Australia to raise awareness of human trafficking in Nepal, in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney.
Nedlands dentist Clifford Yudelman and his wife Gillian were on holidays in Nepal just before Christmas last year and on an internal flight from Pokhara to Kathmandu when they met Ms Koirala.
“I sat next to her on the plane and started to chat to her and I realised she was someone important by the way the Nepalese people were treating her, almost like royalty,” Mrs Yudelman said.
“When we landed in Kathmandu she invited us to come and look at her work and facility and we were overwhelmed by what we saw,” she said.
Ms Koirala is the founder and chairperson of non-profit organisation Maiti Nepal and works to prevent human trafficking by creating awareness of the crime.
She provides counselling, support and life skills to girls and women who are at risk of being trafficked and has rescued more than 12,000 individuals who have been tricked or sold into slavery and taken across the border into the brothels of India and beyond.
Upon their return to Nepal, Ms Koirala provides survivors with shelter, rehabilitation, health care and legal services.
Her Teresa Academy in Kathmandu also offers education to orphans and underprivileged children.
Ms Yudelman said the greatest problem Ms Koirala faced was the lack of access to necessary drugs the treat girls who suffered terrible fates, often being raped numerous times during one day, some as young as seven-years-old.
The Yudelmans organised her visit to Australia, where she will educate people about the issues involved, speak at various schools, universities and Rotary clubs and among Nepalese communities in Australia.
Ms Koirala is also being interview by Canon Frank Sheehan at the Christ Church Grammar School chapel on Monday, May 23 at 7.30pm.
Tickets are $10 and available at the Lane Bookshop in Claremont, with all proceeds going towards Maiti Nepal.
Mr Yudelman is holding a photography
exhibition ‘Reflections on Nepal’ of more than 100 scenes, portraits
and landscapes in Nepal, as well as images from the Teresa Academy in
Kathmandu from May 25-June 5 at Nyisztor Studio in Melville, to raise
money for the Maiti Nepal organisation, while Ms Koirala is in Perth.
For inquiries, call Teresa Scott on 9442 1705 or visit www.motherhomenepal.org.au