“We had no choice but to act” – A letter from our founders

June 5, 2025 | News

When we first started working with 3 Angels Nepal over 14 years ago, we could never have imagined we would end up here. We first travelled to Nepal as part of a community fundraising initiative in 2011. What happened when we got there was truly life changing. We knew human trafficking was a devastating issue. What we were less prepared for, was the innumerable stories of recovery, resilience and hope.

We met children who had been torn from their homes and forced into labour. Women who had been sold into sex work. And survivors who had reclaimed their lives and forged new paths forward.

All around us, we saw incredible strength. Survivors, advocates, and frontline workers were relentlessly committed to justice and freedom. We knew then we had to keep supporting the initiatives that give Nepal’s most vulnerable women and children the chance to dream, to heal, and to hope.

Over the years we’ve realised that to make a true, long-term, multi-generational change – we have to take bold action. 3 Angels Nepal have saved over 60,000 women and children from human trafficking. They are the experts. They have all the skills, knowledge, initiatives and contacts to not just change the lives of survivors, but to create community, cultural and policy change.

And that’s exactly what they’re doing. 

They are influencing wide-spread social change, developing innovative new models of sustainable impact, and transforming the lives of thousands of survivors and potential victims.

What they don’t have, is the resources to provide reliable, safe, secure space for their work, and their beneficiaries. 

Unlike in Australia, Nepali tenants are responsible for all ongoing maintenance of rented property. Over the past 14 years we’ve witnessed how much time, energy and money has been spent on rent and maintenance for property that is constantly being damaged by monsoons. 

Time, energy and money that could otherwise have been invested into life-changing action for some of Nepal’s most vulnerable communities.

We decided to change that. That’s where The Pokhara Project comes in. It’s a self-owned, self-sustaining, low-maintenance, earthquake and monsoon resistant campus for healing, education and empowerment.

The current 3 Angels Nepal school is at the point of disrepair where, without urgent action, it will be forced to close. We’ve adapted our plans to get urgently needed school buildings built, and the 3 Angels Nepal school onsite as soon as possible.

We’ve raised $1.5million already, and hope to begin building in late 2025. But it’s not enough to cover the full cost and ensure they have everything they need to continue building a self-sustainable school.

We need to raise just $800,000 more to build what’s required to save the school.

Education is a critical tool for ending human trafficking before it begins, and is core to 3 Angels Nepal’s self-sustainability model. We have no choice but to save this life-changing school.

And we need your help. 

We are a small team, working hard to bring this vision to life, to secure a future of freedom, safety and opportunity for generations to come.

1. Give to our appeal, to help raise the remaining $800,000 for the school
2. Join our free online webinar on Tuesday 10 June: ‘Why education is critical to ending human trafficking”. We’ll be speaking with the founders of 3 Angels Nepal and the school principal, sharing updates on the school and answering any questions you have.

If you can support financially, 100% of your gift goes directly to the field. We know that not everyone is in a position to give. Your help in sharing this work is just as valuable. The more awareness we can raise, the more children and women we can help heal and divert from trafficking.

We can’t thank you enough for all of your support to get us to this point. It’s time for us to break ground, and take real action, for real change, right now.

We can’t do it without you.

With our deepest gratitude,

Steve & Robyn Raymond
Co-Founders, Give Freedom International