From Marbella - to Nepal

Maiti Nepal Marbella was founded by Marianne Steneholm in 2017 — but the vision started many years before that. Before Marianne moved to Spain in 1999, she read a Swedish women's magazine and came across an article about Anuradha Koirala, the founder of Maiti Nepal and her relentless fight against human trafficking and sexual exploitation of young women and girls in Nepal. The article stayed in her mind until 2016, when she finally decided to act. She contacted Maiti Nepal and told them she wanted to find ways to help.

The following year she visited Maiti Nepal's shelters in Kathmandu for the first time and never looked back. Returning to Marbella, Marianne set out to build a community of friends, sponsors, and local businesses committed to supporting that mission. Through annual charity galas and direct sponsorships, every euro raised goes straight to the children at Maiti Nepal — funding the complete costs of the Teresa Academy, a school run by Maiti Nepal for rescued victims and underprivileged orphaned or semi-orphaned children.

Marianne visits Maiti Nepal every year to follow the usage of the funds raised and to visit the many children she has gotten to know and see grow up over the years.