Nepal one year after the earthquake: Child labour, child brides, homeless kids

Children and young peopleremain among the most vulnerable, one year after Nepal's massive earthquake. A quarter of those killed some 2,000 were under 10 years old.

And for those who survived, life is still achallenge. Hundreds of thousands of them are homeless.

Many of these kids have spent months in tent cities, under sheets of corrugatedmetal, or sleeping out in the open.

For 19-year-old Bagwar Gdadji and her daughter, home is a'temporary' tent in a dusty lot in Kathmandu. Her baby was born just hoursbefore the April 25, 2015 earthquake destroyed their house.

She and her husbandcan't afford to re-build, or even rent anywhere else, so they've been here for ayear now.

Most of those who live in this camp are young people and children.

In a nearby tent, Mondu Sunam struggles to take care of her disabledgrandson, seven-year-old Prince. He needs medical attention andphysiotherapy, neither of which are available in the camp.

Water is available in the camp, since it is in the middle of the capital,Kathmandu.

But for many children in the countryside, getting water means atwo or three hour walk to the nearest working well. Many village wells havedried up or were contaminated after the earthquake.

The search for safedrinking water remains a constant.

Hundreds of children lost one or both parents in the earthquake, and manykids still liveon the streets. Or roamthe country however theycan.

Girls are especially vulnerable in Nepal.

Even before the earthquake, childmarriage was a big problem here. Since last April, it has become morecommon as some parents seek a husband to support the daughters they can't.

In the hard-hit district of Sindhupalchowk, aid group Plan International runsa program for girls and young women, to warn them of the dangers of sexualabuse, forced marriages and human trafficking.

In the past year, the risk of human trafficking has been much higher aschildren are taken from their home villages to work in virtual slavery in bigcities or abroad.

According to UNICEF, more than a thousand children havebeen stopped at police checkpoints around Nepal,heading for an uncertain future, under the control of a stranger.

Sexual assault is also a rising threat in the upheaval after the quake. A17-year-old woman who wants to be called 'Grisma' was raped shortly after the earthquake by an older man from a nearby village.

She fidgets nervously as she tells her story.Grismais now pregnant andunder social pressure to marry her rapist.

Child labour in the brickworks

Other dangers for Nepal's youth are in the country's brickworks.

Officially,child labour is illegal here, but I find many children digging, moulding bricksand stacking them,especially now that demand for building materials isexpected to grow.

Viswas is 15 years old. He says he works 11 hours a day, six days a weekshovelling mud on the outskirts of Kathmandu for about 40 cents an hour.The worker next to him is 13 years old.

Workers nearby look much younger, though no one will confirm their exactage. The pressure is great on families who have lost everything in the earthquake to make money however possible.

Even by putting their youngest to work.

At 14, Grakar Khadri spends his days loading and unloading bricks.

Others work the streets of Kathmandu, selling cotton candy amid the rubble.

Children rebuildtheir lives, as Nepal tries to rebuild itself.

All photos by Saa Petricic. See more of Saa'sphotos onInstagram.