Daughters for Sale

I just finished watching Daughters for Sale, a segment on the PBS show NOW. The program chronicles the practice of child slavery in Nepal:

This week NOW travels to Nepal during the Maghe Sankranti holiday, when labor contractors come to the villages of the area to "buy" the children. There, we meet the Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation, which is trying to break the cycle of poverty and pain with an Enterprising Idea. They're providing desperate families with an incentive to keep their daughters: a piglet or a goat that can ultimately be sold for a sum equivalent to that of their child's labor.

It's a heartening story. Three cheers for Olga Murray, who started the work in Nepal that has led to thousands of girls being able to stay at home with their families. And cheers to all the people working for the Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation.