Kathmandu (AsiaNews) - In Nepal, women are increasingly the victims of sexual abuse and drugs, and the country has become a focal point for the trafficking of prostitutes into India. This is because of the poverty of a society that has been without a government for more than a year and which is currently in the throes of economic crisis. So says Sister Ambrose Jaya, an Indian religious of the Holy Cross.

The nun has been working for 20 years with the poor in the town of Bhairhawa in the Terai region, hub of human trafficking between India and Nepal. "We religious and priests - she says - try to help these people not to fall and try to meet their needs."

Each year more than 7 thousand Nepalese women are sent to India to be forced into prostitution. Another problem is the broken families, with men and women abroad for work and children at home, with a high risk of abuse and exploitation of child labor.

"When we go out onto the streets - Jaya says Sister - we see poor but also wealthy families fleeing abroad in order to survive. Many parents entrust their children to relatives or friends. This leaves a void in the lives of children which often leads them to become victims of social ills such as drugs, alcohol, sexual abuse. "

To help these people, sister Jaya and her sisters are visiting villages and bringing prostitutes, girls who are victims of abuse, or poor women without a family back to their convent. The sisters offer spiritual help to these women and teach them to read and write to help them find a job. "In this country - says Sr. Jaya - there is a great need for the presence of missionaries as messengers of peace between the poor and abandoned. We must listen to the voice of the voiceless, to heal the wounds of the hearts of these people. "