Independent Women (Part II)

In a strange way I've been looking forward to writing this one ever since I got out to Nepal. Although I might have called it Independent Women, this post is completely opposite to part 1 as I'll be covering a topic that has such a negative effect on women's lives. The topic is something so taboo that they don't speak about it in some parts of the country. It's something children don't get educated about. It's the reason a lot of girls don't go to school. It's the reason a number of women are raped. 


I'm talking periods, people. 

(Guys: this one's going to be all about menstruation, so if you're feeling squeamish about that, get a grip of yourselves and keep reading. This is interesting stuff). 

**Disclaimer: the following doesn't apply to every inch and corner of Nepal, but a lot of it is common and does affect a huge number of women.** 

Let's get to it. In Nepal they have what are known as chhaupadi traditions. These are a strict set of rules to follow when women are menstruating. Practiced in the far western areas of Nepal, the chhaupadi tradition prevents women from normal family activities because they are 'impure'. On her very first period, a girl must spend 10-11 days in a shed, and 4-7 days from then on. After childbirth, the mother must also spend 11 days in confinement. Often these sheds can be far from the home and more than one woman will have to stay there. The women have no protection and often they are raped (even though they're impure, go figure). 

During menstruation women are forbidden to touch men or to enter the courtyard of their own homes. They are barred from consuming milk, yogurt, butter, meat, and  must survive on a diet of dry foods, salt, and rice. They cannot use warm blankets, and are allowed only a small rug made of burlap. They are also restricted from going to school or performing their daily functions like taking a bath, forced to stay in the conditions of the shed. This is all because they are considered to be impure. 

The chhaupadi system comes from the superstition of impurity during the menstruation period. In this superstitious logic, if a menstruating woman touches a tree it will never again bear fruit; if she consumes milk the cow will not give any more milk; if she reads a book about Saraswati, the goddess of education, she will become angry; if she touches a man, he will be ill. (Wiki)

Despite being outlawed by the Supreme Court in 2005, the practice still continues. In the far west of Nepal, 50% of women said they had been forced to live in sheds. In the mid west it was 52% of women. 

In addition to this, it seems that education about menstrual and other sexual and reproductive health is completely missing from the curriculum. Some of the Nepali volunteers have told me that although it is there in the textbook, it doesn't spoken about in school. At home there will be no help either, there is no chance of your parents sitting down to talk about these 'impure' topics. This isn't the only issue when it comes to education. Due to poor sanitation facilities, and often a complete lack of girls toilets, girls are often forced to miss school when they are menstruating, having an extremely detrimental effect on their education. 

Learning about the above has made me realise the importance of the programme we are currently working on. Based in schools, the volunteers have been/will be delivering classes about these essential topics. They have already been out teaching about puberty and menstrual health to women's groups and they will be extending this to schools too. Some of the volunteers have also organised sanitary pad making workshops, a great session that teaches women who may not have access to sanitary items how to make their own discreet pads. 
This is the part where I would like to add lots of statistics about how things are changing, but they've been hard to come by. Because Chhaudapi is such an established tradition it is hard to break. Women accept the practice because it's what their mothers and grandmothers have done, so they are expected to do it too. There are some efforts being made to root this problem out. Twice a week, the state-owned Radio Nepal broadcasts programmes to raise awareness about the chhaupadi system and the reproductive health rights of women. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare and Mainstreaming Gender Equity Programme (MGEP) screened a 40-minute documentary film in March this year called 'Chhaupadi', to highlight the problem.

The attitudes to menstruation have directly affected some of my volunteers. Of course there have been no volunteers sleeping out in sheds, but they have had to follow some of the 'milder' rules. The host homes understand that the UK volunteers have different practices and respect that, but at the same time we must respect the rules of the homes we are living in. I have also found that Nepali's use menstruation as reasoning for most health problems. Whenever a volunteer has been sick, the doctor has always asked if they are menstruating. Most Nepali women seem to 'take rest' when they are menstruating, and they seem shocked at our desire to continue living life as normal. I can't image what an employer in the UK would say if you said you needed 4 days off every month from work because of menstruation. Maybe I'll test that out when I get back...

Lizzie x

Want to see some images of chaupadi in practice? Head over to this gallery on The Guardian. 

This is also a good link to a first hand account of chaupadi in Nepal.

Whoa, We're Halfway There.

There's not much that's worse than Bon Jovi, so I apologise for that hideous blog title.

I was going to write this post many weeks ago when I was having an absolutely appalling day and a difficult time all round. However, I realised it would be all negative and that those feelings would eventually subside. Of course I was right and am now in a position where I can balance out the negatives with some cheery stuff too. So, here it is, a realistic account of my time in Nepal so far.

At the start I was having a difficult time, there's no other way to say it. I found it really quite hard to adapt to life in Nepal and it was so much different to what I was expecting. With Tajikistan I found it impossible to have expectations as I had no idea about the country. I therefore had no problems with expectations not being met. Nepal, however, is different. I had an image in my mind of how life would be and what the country was like and it hasn't quite matched that. That doesn't mean I didn't like it, it's just not what I expected.

It took quite a few weeks to feel 'comfortable' in Nepal. I can't really put my finger on what it is about the country, but I didn't instantly feel settled there. Although I have been told time and time again that the people are wonderful and hospitable, I didn't instantly feel this. I found a lot of people I met to be quite rude, unhelpful and I didn't always feel welcome. It was also incredibly frustrating getting used to way things work (or don't work) in this country. Each decision takes a very long time, bureaucracy is extreme and there never seems to be a straight answer for anything.

Another thing that got to me was the extreme hypocrisy in Nepal. I've been told that Nepal stands for Never Ending Peace And Love, but I've seen things that completely contradict that. I won't go too much into it because it's a sensitive topic, but there is a caste system in Nepal that discriminates against a vast number of people. This sometimes goes as far as one caste not even accepting water from the lowest caste because they are 'untouchable'. Speaking of untouchable, there are 'pollution' rules that dictate that during menstruation, women must sleep outside, use another water source and not touch men. I don't really see the love there. Fortunately, the majority of the people I've met do not follow these practices, or choose a 'watered down' version and I've not seen too much caste discrimination, although it is there. It absolutely broke my heart during training when I found out one of my volunteers was worried about being discriminated against in the host home because of their caste. And there I was, worried about the toilets.

When I first arrived into the community I did have an overwhelming moment of 'what have I done?'. I think being all alone for the first time in my bare cement room, thousands of miles away from home and with a whole group relying on me, it all hit home. I did almost have a cry but then I was saved by some well timed chiya.

HOWEVER

The people in the community I live in seem much kinder than those in Kathmandu and I lived with a family that are very sweet and caring. What I had previously taken as rudeness is just the Nepali way, as they are quite reserved on the whole. The Nepali volunteers I work with are very helpful and are a great support to the UK volunteers. At times I still get very annoyed with the overly complicated paperwork and methods of doing things, but as ex-local government staff I'm kind of used to it. Maybe it was the change in location or maybe I was just in a different mindset when I first arrived, but things are definitely easier.

Every morning I wake up and go up to the rooftop for my morning chiya (tea). I look out over the lush greenery and out to the Himalayas and wonder what there ever was to be unhappy about. Nepal is a truly beautiful country and I'm so glad to be here (although it has ruined scenery for me forever). I love living in a town that has so little traffic that you can walk freely through the dusty streets. Even more than that I love being able to see goats, chickens and even the stinky bisey (buffaloes) every day. Walking over to the office and having chicks at your feet (the feathered kind) is one of my favourite things. I don't have to listen to the sounds of traffic, sirens, dogs barking or people shouting anymore, just the sounds of crickets, birds and farm animals. Even the sounds of bugs scuttling around at night on my bedroom floor aren't that bad anymore.

There is such a rich and diverse culture that it's sometimes hard to take it in, even for the Nepali volunteers. There are over 100 languages spoken in Nepal and the main religions are Hinduism and Buddhism although there are also Christians, Muslims and other smaller groups. Some of the traditions (though I don't agree with all of them) are hundreds of years old and still going strong today. Sometimes I feel like we're in a bit of a time warp as the communities we're in are completely sustainable without a single influence from the outside world. For example, one of the host homes is completely self sufficient. Whatever they grow, they eat. If they don't grow it, they don't eat it. This is the same for much of rural Nepal and it does make me think about my own lifestyle. I'm not about to go and live in a hippy commune, but I'll definitely be attempting to grow some of my own veggies and making a conscious effort to be more sustainable.

We're almost at the point of our Mid Phase Review (MPR) which means that after that I only have five weeks left in community and then a final week up in Kathmandu. It is at this point of the programme where time will really start to fly. I know that the time between my own MPR and returning home seemed like it was only a week as opposed to six. In this time so much work will be done. The volunteers have got some excellent Community Action Days (CADs) planned including footcare, sanitary pad making, HIV/AIDs awareness workshops, uterine prolapse sessions, beekeeping training and workshops on healthy livestock. In addition to this the schools will finally be open so they can start doing their lessons in sexual and reproductive health. It's been very frustrating for them to have to wait until half way through the programme to start these but at least they can finally get stuck into that and in the meantime they've delivered some great CADs and active citizenship days.

As for me, I'm finding it challenging but also enjoyable to be a Team Leader. I've got to know the volunteers really well and think they're a really good group. They've got great skills between them and have faced up to their challenges really well. I'm looking forward to our MPR for some time out of the community and away from work. It's going to be Nepali New Year so I'm excited to see in the year 2072 with this bunch of crazy kids.

My own experience is somewhat different to theirs because I am not directly involved in a set project. I enjoy seeing the work they do and am happy to support with any help they need, although if that means talking to a Nepali beekeeping expert, I'm kind of at a loss. I've found that I've developed in quite a different way to last time. When I came back from Tajikistan I had a new found confidence and had finally gotten over issues of public speaking and leading teams. Before that, there is no way I'd be in the position I'm currently in. This time around I've grown even more as a person, cheesy as that sounds. Supporting the volunteers on an emotional level has evoked skills that I have never previously used as I'm not usually known for being a particularly good counsellor. That seems to have changed now (I hope so, anyway) and I've found a whole fountain of wisdom that I never knew I had. Maybe that's because I'm getting on a bit...

I've also had plenty of time to think about the future and what "I Want To Do", the big question. I still don't really know but I've recognised the skills that I have and the things that make me happy. Prior to this I would say I was incredibly confused about the future and what I "Would Be", another big question. Now, I'm in a place where I know what I'm good at and I know what I like. I've previously accepted jobs which have been an easy way out as doing what I actually want to do seemed like too much of a challenge. I'm feeling confident enough in myself now to go after what I want, and for me that is a huge victory.

Lizzie x