WUNRN
NEPAL - CHAUPADI CUSTOM - ISOLATION
OF WOMEN DURING MENSTRUATION & AFTER BIRTH - VIDEO
______________________________________________________________________
Source: IRIN | Photo: Amy
Lieberman
“I'll
stay here in the 'goth' for seven days total,” Kamala said. “Of course I feel
afraid when I go inside by myself. It's so scary during the rainy season when
all the snakes come.”
'Chhaupadi',
Nepalese for the practice of segregating menstruating women from their houses
and men, was outlawed by
A
three-year-old initiative in Achham District to create 'chhaupadi'-free zones
is slowly catching on, but remains stalled by a division between younger and
older generations: the latter warn of disastrous consequences if menstruating
women, considered toxic, step inside their houses.
The
Hindu gods will punish menstruating women, their family, land and livestock in
any number of catastrophic ways if they try to contaminate their homes, they
believe.
But
many young women like Kamala do not believe in such things.
Kamala
has asked to come inside before, but the family elders get angry, she said. Her
aunt, Vima Vishwakarmas, who takes care of the grade-nine student, quietly
supports her niece's convictions.
“I
wish now that she could come inside, but the older family members won't allow
it,” Vima said.
Kamala
spoke of her own cycle without any indication of embarrassment inside her
austere 'goth', furnished with a thin mat, a metal plate and bowl on the
ground.
Women
practising 'chhaupadi' have reported rapes, snake bites and a lack of nutrition
because they are not allowed to cook for themselves or eat dairy products,
according to a local women-run advocacy organization called the Paralegal
Committee. The group launched the 'chhaupadi'-free movement three years ago.
Tula
Shahi, a local restaurant owner and health expert contracted by the government,
sat in on the Paralegal meeting. She recalled how she once did not eat for
seven days while in the 'goth' because there was no one to cook for her.
Now she, like all of the Paralegal members, no longer uses a `goth’.
“Women
and children aren't eating properly, and because it is cold inside the 'goth'
they can become sick easily,” said Namsar Vhandari, the Paralegal Committee's
secretary.
“In
part because of this, we started to work with families and to convince them to
let girls come inside the house. Of course it is difficult. We talked a lot
about what people are afraid of, especially with the gods and the goddesses.”
Vhandari
said after three years, 75 percent of her Village Development Committee (VDC),
a municipality called Janalibandali, is 'chhaupadi'-free, but the remaining 25
percent remains “quite far off”.
Mangalsen
VDC, a small town of less than 10,000 and capital of Achham District, presents
a mixed picture of progress.
Chandra
Khadka, a male spiritual healer who lives more than an hour from Mangalsen,
began encouraging girls to leave the 'goth' two years ago. “I wanted to become
a part of society, so whatever society decides, I am following that,” the
68-year-old said of his decision to keep pace with the anti-'chhaupadi' trend
in Achham.
But
bucking tradition can create ruinous consequences for women who independently
shun the 'goth'.
After
seven years of practising 'chhaupadi', Lakshmi Regma refused to stay in the
`goth’ after she was selected as a village facilitator, a community mobilizer
funded by the government. But when her three-month-old son later died of
natural causes, people began to talk about her role in his death.
“People
said he died because I didn't go in the 'goth',” Regma said. “If something
happens to your family, people will blame the girl." Adding that such
pressure and superstition puts an unreasonable burden on girls.
Even
though she is head of the household, Nirmala Nepali, 14, is not taking any
chances with crossing the elders in her Dalit community. Nepali has cared for
her two younger siblings for the past seven years since her mother died of
AIDS, but she still listens to an elder neighbour, who instructed her when she
had her first period five months ago.
“If
I go inside, the grandmother will become crazy,” Nepali said from outside her
'goth'. “So I stay here.”