Kathmandu, Nepal (CNN) -- Geeta was 9 when she began wearing makeup, staying up until 2 a.m. and having sex with as many as 60 men a day. "I used to be really sad and frustrated with what was happening in my life," she said. The daughter of Nepalese peasant farmers, Geeta -- now 26 -- had been sold to a brothel in India by a member of her extended family. The family member had duped Geeta's visually impaired mother into believing her daughter would get work at a clothing company in Nepal. "The brothel where I was ... there [were] many customers coming in every day. The owner used to verbally abuse us, and if we didn't comply, [she] would start beating us with wires, rods and hot spoons."
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Group fights to prevent sexual trafficking of Nepal's women and girls
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Anuradha Koirala, 61, started Maiti Nepal following an abusive relationship
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More than 12,000 Nepali women and girls have been rescued and rehabilitated since 1993
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Anuradha Koirala
It was not until Geeta was 14 that a police officer rescued her and brought her to a safe house compound run by @placeholder.
Maiti Nepal
The 61-year-old woman and her group, @placeholder, have been fighting for more than 16 years to rescue and rehabilitate thousands of Nepal's sex trafficking victims.
Anuradha Koirala
By the early 1990s, an increasing demand for help and persistent cases of violence against women compelled @placeholder to do more.
Maiti Nepal
@placeholder provides medical treatment, psychological and legal counseling, formal court filings and criminal prosecution, all for free.
Maiti Nepal
If @placeholder wasn't there for me, I would be dead by now."