A ROLE MODEL WOMAN
65 years old, Geeta Devi Kafle of "Janaklyan Women's Group", Mahottari district gave up the long held caste discrimination practice.
She has been a role model of the Khayarmara VDC of Mahottari district. Now she eats what so-called Dalit (Untouchable) people give her. She allows Dalits in her home. The women's group participated in the Cornerstones training and changed their philosophy toward the age-old caste discrimination practice.
In Nepali phenomenon the society is divided into caste groups with hierarchy. Those of the so-called higher caste (Brahmin, Chhetrri) discriminate against the lower caste (Dalits). The level of discrimination is inhumane to the effect that Dalits are considered untouchable and ostracized from the society.
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Success Stories
Nirmala Nepal
A gift that changed life
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Nirmala Nepali, 29, president of Pathivara Women’s Group in Itahari, eastern Nepal, is a friendly, cheerful and benevolent person. Born in Assam, India, in a poor Nepali family who had migrated in search of better livelihood, her life was full of struggles. Her family had to work as agricultural laborers for sustenance. Their fate struck them harder when they had to return Nepal empty handed following the civil unrest in Assam in 1980s.
Her hardships increased when she eloped with a Brahmin boy, a ‘higher caste’, at the age of eighteen. As she belonged to lower caste family, her husband’s family ostracized them. Fate struck them hard when their bullocks, the only source of income, was stolen and her husband fell ill. After several failed efforts, Nirmala was finally able to take a loan by depositing her tilahari (a piece of gold jewelry worn by Hindu married women) for the treatment of her husband.
After the recovery, she and her husband started working as mason. As she ached to be literate, she asked her husband to teach her to read and write and soon caught up with it.
After she gave birth to three children, two girls and a boy, the needs of her family increased. To meet the demands of her family, she wanted to start an enterprise but she didn’t have resources for it. So she approached a local dairy cooperative. The cooperative manager advised her to organize a women’s group and start savings and credit activity. Impressed with her dedication during the group formation, the manager helped her to apply project proposal to Heifer Nepal.
In 1999, Heifer provided one lactating buffalo each to Nirmala’s group members on micro-credit. She was the last person to receive the buffalo as she gave priority to other group members. Receiving a buffalo was a dream come true for her. Heifer also equipped the group with animal husbandry and fodder production training which helped them to produce more from the buffalo. With the increased income, Nirmala was able to give nutritious food to her family, send her children to school and construct a small two-room brick house.
Nirmala paid back the credit within eight months though the contract allowed her to pay back in three years time. Her eyes filled with tears as she said, “I received the gift of buffalo from Heifer when I was in great need and I don’t want other needy family to wait for a long time because I have experienced hunger and poverty.”
Heifer has also provided her group with Cornerstones training. In every meeting, they revisit the 12 cornerstones. “Heifer cornerstones have helped me and my group members too as the guiding principle in life,” says Nirmala.
She also made and effort to secure adult literacy class program from the municipality. This helped her group members to be literate. Similarly, she has also been voluntarily conducting literacy classes for Mushar, an underprivileged ethnic tribe, in her community. Nirmala’s untiring commitment to her community is truly commendable.
Written in June 2001
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