Former child weaver, Chameli Tamang, 12, now living in RugMark rehabilitiation centre, Kathamandu Nepal

"My name is Chameli Tamang, and I have been living in the RugMark Rehabilitation centre for 5 months. I am 12 years old and come from Sikharpur village of Makawanpur district in the Central Development Region of Nepal. Sikharpur is in a remote part of the district about 350 km from Kathmandu."

My mother left us and remarried, and my father now lives with my step mother. I have three younger sisters from my step mother's side and they all go to school. I was not allowed to go because they said that I had to work to earn money to support them.

I was always hated and beaten by my parents and family. Finally, they sent me to work with my relatives in the carpet factory when I was just 10 years old. The carpet factory was dark and dirty and I lived in a small room close to the factory with a female relative.

I had to wake at 5am every morning and walk to the factory to start weaving rugs straight away. We had no tea or breakfast, and I wasn't allowed to take a good rest until the first short break at 10am. After a quick meal of poor quality rice and curry, I had to be back at work by 10.30, where I worked until 8 'o'clock at night.

I earned about 500 Nepalese rupees (£3.50) per month, and the only thing that I looked forward to during the day was the 10am break. Sometimes, if I was slow, I would be severely scolded for my work. It was very rare for me to go out of the factory. If I did have a day off, I would go to the market to mark the occasional local festival.

All that is important to me now is education and my mother.

I didn't believe that I would ever be able to stop working - I didn't have enough clothes to wear, I was always hungry, and I missed my mother badly. Then the RugMark inspector came to my factory and persuaded them to let me go to the RugMark rehabilitation centre.

RugMark has changed my life. Now I am studying and love it - my favourite subject is English. Education is so important to me, because now I can train to be a teacher. I will be rich and have my own money, so nobody will mistreat me again. If Rugmark was not in Nepal many children like me would have to work in carpet factories. They would be deprived of love, care and education.

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