Case Story Collection English
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ROARING VOICES, WINDS OF CHANGE A COMPILATION OF CASE STUDIES OF WOMEN PARTICIPATION UNDER THE PROJECT I HAVE A VOICE: WOMEN ADVOCATING FOR DEVELOPMENT IN NEPAL 1 Date of Publica on November 2014 Published by Mission East Nepal © Mission East, 2014 All photographs and content are property of Mission East unless otherwise noted. Report produced by Uddhav Rai, Independent Consultant, August 2014 Edited by Ali Malcom Disclaimer This document has been produced with the fi nancial assistance of the CISU – Civil Society in Development. The views expressed herein should not be taken, in any way, to refl ect the offi cial opinion of the CISU – Civil Society in Development. 2 PREFACE Mission East, in associa on with the ‘I Have a Voice’ project set out all children to a end schools, and Karnali Integrated Rural Development to raise awareness among female prohibit drinking, gambling, and and Research Centre (KIRDARC) and members of the communi es so that violence in their communi es. Women Welfare Service (WWS) they educate themselves, educate Women who had never gone out Humla, have implemented a Gender others, join hands for collec ve of their households now speak in and Social Inclusion (GESI) project ac on to realise their rights, and public mee ngs, demanding shares en tled ‘I Have a Voice: Women advocate against the malprac ces of development, which are en tled Advoca ng for Development in of untouchability and gender and to them. Access to and control over Nepal’ in six village development caste-based discrimina on, violence, community resources are greater commi ees in two remote districts of ul mately crea ng agencies to than before. They have set up the the Himalayan foothills. This project counter them. rules for gender and social inclusion aims to reach the poorest and most (GESI) by crea ng alignments with Despite unbelievable poverty, high marginalised communi es living in like-minded networks. They regularly rates of illiteracy, poor sanita on, the most isolated areas of Nepal. The meet and share ‘women ma ers’ and and remote access, the project has project par cipants are marginalised save small amount on monthly basis managed to create awareness and women who are made vulnerable to use for a common cause. More to mobilise women to enjoy their due to long imbedded caste and ill- importantly, they prac ce mahila rights. Women who never knew the gendered social construct, live in the khedne (gathering women) for their alphabets now can read and write. poorest segment of society in one of rights, an unexpected events not They have realised the meaning of the least developed countries of the before the project interven ons. educa on in their lives. They have world, and are a challenging group Overall, the project has facilitated the mo vated and persuaded villagers to to reach in terms of their locale and emergence of the suppressed voices clean up village paths, restrict people habitats. Realising all these factors, of women in Karnali. from open defeca on, encourage Christophe Belperron Country Representa ve Mission East Nepal i NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR This compila on is a brief of case and the developmental roles she studies of ten women project has performed in her household and par cipants interviewed in depth, community. Each of them portrays with some revisits, during a period the plight of women and the struggle of three and a half weeks, including against the prac ces in the en re travel me via air from Kathmandu Karnali region. Each of them brings and treks. Out of them, fi ve lost their hope to the reader and makes us think parents in childhood and had the most about the future of Karnali society. diffi cult upbringing by stepmothers. I felt heavy each me I interviewed One of them is physically challenged, someone; in some, I became s ll and and another has a long-term ailment. speechless. All respondents names, Four of them are Dalits (so-called cita ons and photographs are ‘as it is’ untouchables). and presented with their consent. Each par cipant’s story is unique because of the circumstances of Uddhav Rai her upbringing, the emo ons she Independent Consultant gathered, the path she travelled, ii CONTENTS List of Abbrevia ons ii Glossary ii From a Rebel to a Social Worker 1 Roaring Voices 4 A Towering Figure 7 Dhainaki Aina (Mirror of Dhaina) 9 Love Inspires Me to Live 12 From Thumbprint to Signature 14 A New Beginning 16 An Ac ve Icon of Change 19 A Second Life 21 Rays of Hope 24 iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CAED Centre for Agro-ecology and Development DLAs district line agencies FM frequency modula on NGOs non-governmental organisa ons Rs. Nepalese currency in Rupees (the current conversion rate is equivalent to Rs. 126 against 1 Euro) VDC Village Development Commi ee WDAG Women Development Advocacy Group WWS Women Welfare Service iv GLOSSARY Bari Dry upland, mostly used for maize, millet, and barley cultivation. Chhoi chhito halne Practice of purifying high caste people against the touches of low caste people (Shudras). Purifi cation is done by sprinkling three times with gold-dipped, pure water and holy grasses. Chhau or chhui Menstrual pollution, a form of untouchability mostly practiced in Western hills of Nepal. Women are considered impure and untouchable for seven days during chhui and for 11 days after childbirth. During this period, women are required to stay in a cowshed or a separate house. Chhui also refers to untouchability of low-caste people, practiced by those of high castes. Deuda Popular duet folk song, sung between two groups of people, usually of opposite sex, at fairs, festivals, wedding ceremonies, farms, forests, or wherever they get opportunities. The duet has competitive lyrical questions and answers that go on for hours, sometimes for up to two or three days. Deuda songs are mostly about love and romance and are occasionally sung for tracing out histories, for prayers, and for awareness raising. Boys and girls often come close, fall in love, and get married during Deuda singing. Deuda is an important part of life in the region. Ghatta A traditional rural mill, set up in the side of stream and operated by the current of water. Hal Area of land in terms of draught power tilling. A 2-hal area of land is equivalent to one ropani or 508.75 square metres. Jari Monetary compensation paid to the former husband of a woman by her latter husband. The amount varies depending on the expenses incurred in the previous marriage and also on the health, beauty, and skills of the woman. The higher the jari, the more precious the woman is considered. Khet Wet lowland, mostly used for rice cultivation. v vi FROM REBEL TO SOCIAL WORKER abusive. When her maternal uncle from Mugu district headquarters. died, Bhaura became completely Although Bhaura shares all the isolated from her maternal home and domes c and farming work with her all her rela ves. In the wake of such husband, life is not easy. The wheat pain and loneliness, Bhaura joined crop, which Bhaura’s family produces, the Maoist movement2 and served takes about a year to ripen. Scanty as a singer and full- me poli cal barley, beans, and potatoes are also worker for six years. produced, and her farmland is small, only about 4 hals (about 1,017 square A er the war, Bhaura met Shivachan, metres) of bari (dry upland), which whom she married. They now live barely produces enough food for four in the isolated mountain village months of the year. Murma, 3,100 metres above sea level and a four-hour uphill walk In 2011, when didis (elder sisters) from the ‘I Have a Voice’ project Bhaura Baniya (Rokaya), 24, was The women say that their arrived in her village and organised a born in Bratu, a village in the husbands are beginning mee ng to run a literacy class, Bhaura remote Shrikot Village Development eagerly joined the group. She began Commi ee (VDC), Mugu district. As a to listen to them more a ending the evening literacy class young child, Bhaura was abandoned and have stopped while her husband was away in India by her mother who fl ed the village gambling and drinking in for work. She took her infant with with another man a er allega ons her to class and started learning ka- that she was involved in her son’s public places. kha-ga (Devnagari alphabets) in a death. Bhaura then lived with her congested, poorly lit room. Soon a er, stepmother, who was violent and her classmates decided to form the 2. Maoist movement was an armed confl ict ignited by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) from 1996 to 2006 against the monarchy and feudal society, claiming more than 18,000 lives, which ul mately overthrew the monarchy and re-established democracy in Nepal. 1 2 Rara Women Development Advocacy restricted to the village, but now their stable life, a lovely daughter, and a Group (RWDAG), and being popular movement has increased as far as suppor ve husband. in the class, Bhaura was unanimously the district headquarters. In another nominated for the post of secretary. achievement, Bhaura led the village Deuda team and her group came fi rst, Much has changed in the community winning the cash prize of Rs. 10,000, since Bhaura joined the RWDAG. For half of which was kept in the bank instance, the women say that their account and the other half spent on husbands are beginning to listen proposal development to set up a to them more and have stopped museum with a sales outlet of local gambling and drinking in public products.