My name is Padma and I come from Vashi, a small hamlet in Nepal’s far-west Kanchanpur district. All my family was working on a farm as bonded labourers. People call us Haliyas.

We were working for the landlord to pay off our debt. This debt came from my parents or maybe my grandparents, I don’t know… But it has never been paid so we continued to work without being paid. All we received from the landlord was a sack of rice and a pair of clothes for a whole year of work. We did not have the freedom to leave him or to make our own decisions.

You know, I never went to school, I was only able to sign my name and do small transactions.