Cover Airfare for a Victim of Bride Trafficking

Hello,

We are Jac and Nyima. We met 10 years ago in Mcleod Ganj, where the headquarter of the Tibetan Exiled Government. Nyima has been a Tibetan refugee for 15 years. His life has just improved a little with a small income from teaching English to Buddhist monks in a monastic institute.

I am asking to help funding for Nyima's English student, Sujata. Sujata is a 25-year-old woman who is a victim of bride trafficking to China.

Please help us to bring Sujata home, who got tricked into a fake marriage with a Chinese man. Many Nepalese women like Sujata thought they would have a great life in China. A Few Nepalese women Sujata knew are in the same situation got tricked by the same woman named Rina, who is arrested in August. (Please read the story below)

Bride trafficking continues to be identified as a growing phenomenon China. In the last 15 years, more foreign brides from China’s neighbor countries were trafficked into the country.

Sujata studied English from Nyima for several months in the monastic institute before her departure to China. This is where Sujata's mother works as a cleaner. She approached Nyima two months ago to beg him to bring his daughter back to Nepal.

• How we will use the funding? The funding will cover Sujata's one-way ticket from Dalian, China to Katmandu, Nepal. Sujata stays in Dandong, LiaoNing, with her husband's family. Her mother-in-law agreed to take her to Dalian, a 2.5 hours train ride from Dandong.
• When to leave China? She wishes to leave China as soon as possible. She feels it is not safe to stay with her husband’s family anymore. We do not know could her situation get worst.
• Who will purchase airticket? Jac would withdraw the funding into her US bank account and she would manage to purchase Sujata an airfare.
• What Airlines? Sichuan Airlines and China Southern Airlines would be our main preferences, whichever offers the lowest fare on the date. Cheapoair would be a platform used for making the transaction.

Sujata’s Story
Sujata only came to know this August through the news that Rina Tamang Bibirani is arrested. Sujata met Rina’s sister who introduced her to Rina. Rina was a victim of bride trafficking into a five years marriage with a Chinese man. Rina became a free woman when her Chines husband passed away until recently arrested. Many unwary Nepalese girls believe Rina’s fabricated story into a fake marriage with Chinese men.

Rina had lived in Dandong, LiaoNing, a border city with North Korea, during her marriage as a foreign bride. In the same village, this is where Rina found Sujata a Chinese husband. Sujata is isolated in a village around Dagushan Mountain, near Dandong. She does not know the village name. She shared a police station location with us.

Rina described the Chinese man Sujata was going to meet would be like a fairytale-love marriage. Sujata fell into the trafficker’s words. She imagined a beautiful life in China. Rina is identified as the Nepal-based associate of a transnational trafficking racket recently arrested in Nepal. ( https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/bride-trafficking-racket-busted-four-chinese-nationals-among-10-arrested/)

During the Chinese man’s visit to Nepal, Sujata had a good impression of him. They registered in the Nepalese court without blessing from her family. The family did not want her to marry far away. She thought of a great future for her and for the family.

In March 2019, she left Nepal with her husband on a Chinese tourist visa. The family treated her very well in the first month. A medical exam states Sujata was diagnosed with a minor medical issue. The trafficking racket fully refunded the Chinese family RMB 50,000 ($7,132) after the family made a complaint.

In June, Sujata returned to Nepal for minor surgery. Her husband sent her messages every day and promised to take care of her. She decided to return to China to build a family with her Chinese husband. The husband bought a return ticket to China. A six months visa allows her to stay in China until February 2020.

Before the trafficking racket busted, Sujata flew to Dandong, China to be with her husband. The parent-in-laws’ attitudes had changed to suspicious. Sujata is put in the village home now, and the husband works in Dalian, visited her once since she came back from Nepal and absolutely no communication from his side. Sujata decided to look for work so at least she could support herself since she does not have money with her. The family scolded her. She is not allowed to go out alone.

She is being told by the family to delete her family and friends from WeChat. WeChat is like Whatsapp in China. She is only given vegetables and rice every day to survive. Sometimes she goes hungry between mealtime. And she was not given food for consecutive two-days in a several occasions.

One day, only her father in law was home, she ran to the Dandong Dagushan police station to ask for help for the second time. The neighbor took her to the station for the first time. She memorized the way to get there. She told the police that she wants to go home. The police told her she is married to her husband; they cannot help her. They are registered in Nepal but NOT in China. The mother-in-law is uncertain about the wedding ceremony when Sujata confronted her. Sujata is told it might take one or two years later.

Evidently, she believes she has tricked into a fake marriage. The Chinese family has no intention to formalize the marriage registration that allows her legally to stay in the country.

She also secretly contacted the Nepalese Embassy in Beijing. The staff told her they would help her only if she has money for airfare to Nepal.

Sujata does not speak Chinese. WeChat is her only “google translator” to navigate in a foreign country.

Sujata is under house arrested, and mentally tortured. Her family is concerned about her safety. She is isolated in the house with no-one to speak with in the past four months.

We have contacted the provincial police department but they haven’t replied. The police are acting slow. The Nepalese Embassy shows no will to help Sujata.

In order to get away, she has to lie to the parents-in-law and husband that her mother is ill in Nepal. She wants to visit her and she will come back to China. The mother-in-law told her that they don’t have money to buy her airfare. They know that the family is too poor to afford the airfare.

Sujata’s Family Background
Sujata is a third daughter of five siblings from a farmer family in Chautara, Nepal. The family sent the youngest son to a monastery to take on a monkhood path as they could not afford to feed another mouth. She completed 12th grades in a local school and helped out on the family farm. When her mother became ill, she went with her mother to a hospital in Kathmandu. The mother also found a part-time job in a monastic institute as a cleaner to pay her medical bill. Her monthly income of 5,000 Nepali rupees ($44). In the capital of Nepal, Sujata met the sister of Rina.

**Name has changed to protect her identity.