On Monday, January 26, 2006, Monroe College student, Alice Poudel, was the subject of a fascinating article in the NY Times. Written by Lily Koppel, the article detailed Alice’s heartwarming reunion with her mother and her journey from Nepal.

Alice came to New York with her sister, Dorothy, 14, and her brother, Ananta, 21 after having been separated from her mom, Manju Poudel, for 3 years.

The well-educated and hard-working Manju Poudel is described as a social worker and successful activist who fought against forced child prostitution in Nepal, helping to found and direct the Daywalka Foundation, which provides refuge, health care, job training and counseling to rescued girls.

Despite being alone with her siblings in Nepal, Alice volunteered for Maiti Nepal, a nonprofit group that fights the trafficking of children. She counseled rescued women at border shelters and scouted rickshaws for trafficking victims disguised as relatives of their captors. She also translated for a professor who was doing research to publicize the horror of the slave trade.

Now reunited with her family in the states, Alice is studying Criminal Justice at Monroe. We wish her good luck!