In Nepal, there is a village that is nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas, officially called Hokse, but commonly known as “Kidney Valley.” At least one person in every household in this village has had their kidney illegally harvested and sold. Motivated by desperation and poverty, many who bear scars share their stories and reveal a larger issue of exploitation and vulnerability that is pervasive in “Kidney Valley.”

Desperate measures

The prevalence of organ trafficking in “Kidney Valley” is directly correlated to the degree of poverty in the village. Brokers, preying on economic hardships, have coerced countless locals into selling their organs for many years. Cordelia Lynch of sky news reports:

“Locals have desperately tried to shake that infamy in recent years – they feel duped, damaged by it. Some say they were exploited, some claim they were even told their kidneys would regrow. Some have died as a result of what was done to their bodies.”  

Kanchha is a forty-year-old man from the Hokse, and he says he is still in pain and unable to work because of the side effects of the surgery. He states, “It’s impossible to count how many people have done it, everywhere, this village, that village, so many people have sold their kidneys.”

Suman, 31, states that he was so financially and emotionally desperate that he felt his only options were either ending his life or traveling to India to sell his Kidney to a woman pretending to be his sister.

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