Reel Youth

THE YOUTH

The youth have been selected for this film for their vibrancy, talent, communication skills and, most of all, the incredible stories of perseverance and hope that they have to tell.

Kumari is currently in class 8 and shares responsibility with the other older girls her age in caring for all the children at the children's home. Her mother and father are in separate jails in Kathmandu, serving long sentences for trafficking women to India for the sex trade. Soon after their incarceration, Kumari was rescued to a P.A.Nepal home.

She loves drama, activism, traditional Indian and Nepali dance and song. Kumari has remained in contact with her family, including regular prison visits to be with her mother and father. Although thriving in the children’s home, she is slowly transitioning to live in the community with her siblings.

Jeevan is 14 years old. His father has been in Kathmandu’s Central Prison for the last 11 years for drug trafficking. His family come from a poor and remote area of Nepal, where people often resort to trafficking drugs as a means of survival. Jeevan lived with his father in prison for the first two years of his sentence because his mother was unable to care for him. He was only 3 years old. Jeevan was eventually rescued by P.A.Nepal and is living in their children's home in Kathmandu.

He speaks Nepali, English and Hindi and has been studying Tae Kwon Do, cultural dance, acting, drawing and gardening. Jeevan is a leader in a community of over 100 children and his responsibilities include caring for the younger children, gardening at the children's home, shopping for food, cooking and cleaning. He wishes to follow the path of many other people of his caste and area and become a Gurkha Soldier.

Maya is 18 years old and was forced into the Maoist army when she was 13. At 16 she was captured by the state military and held in a detention centre. P.A.Nepal rescued her from the security forces and brought her to live in their Kathmandu Children’s Home.

Many Maoist soldiers are simple kids from farming communities who are forced, often using cruel methods, to become soldiers. Her older brother, also a child soldier, lost his leg in the war.

The film will be produced with the support of the Government of Canada through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).