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
Pravat Women Group & Prakash Women Group
Passing on the Gifts: Power to rise above adversities with conviction and commitment
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Situation before
Belsi village is situated in the eastern part of Chitwan district in central Nepal. The major population of the village is Chaudhary, a disadvantaged ethnic community of Nepal. Few years back, Belsi was the village wallowing in a vicious circle of poverty. None of the families had resources to feed round the year. The dilapidated huts, filth around the village and naked children playing with dirt were a common sight in the village. The community was afflicted with social problems like superstition, conservative lifestyle, child marriage, polygamy, alcoholism, gambling, discrimination and illiteracy.
Furthermore, for many years this settlement used to get destructed by flood each year. They lacked road in the village. Villagers were not aware about family planning, so women were compelled to bear many children which sometimes claimed their life. Health and sanitation situation was miserable.
Women of the community lacked necessary measures to lift themselves out of poverty. They used to spend their days looking after their children, household chores, working in their small patch of land and serving the landlords. However, their effort was not sufficient to meet their daily needs. They had to borrow money from landlords at exorbitant interest rate to meet their needs. Since they were illiterate, the landlords sometimes used to swindle them by getting thumb prints from their drunken husbands on legal papers and seize their property. The year's harvest often turned out to be even less than enough to repay the year's loans resulting the entire harvest landing to landlord house and compelling them to get another loan for the coming year. Most of the Chaudharies lived life of "bonded laborers" literally living at the mercy of the masters.
Along with all these adversities, the suppression that this marginalized ethnic group had been living with from generations was the greatest obstruction for their progress. They believed that 'their pain was their destiny', probably the consequence of their past life and it never occurred to them that they ever would come out of this desperate situation or even hoped for anything better. Acceptance of the ill fate and absolutely low self esteem drew them back from any steps forward.
Heifer’s intervention
The road towards self reliance of this Chaudhary community began when the local women organized themselves into two groups, Prabhat Womens' Group and Prakash Womens' Group in 1999 with the assistance of Women Group Coordination Committee (WGCC), Heifer Nepal’s project partner. But uniting the families into groups was not at all easy as it sounds. A little embarrassed Sonia Chaudhary, from Pravat Group admits "We even chased away WGCC, when they fist approached this village, none of us even wanted to talk to them. Today, I feel so bad about our hostile gesture towards these great people." But Heifer project partner was aware that the people living in such hopeless poverty all their life could never imagine that anything good would happen. Living in suppression and brutality, they had lost faith. After long continuous effort women members from 25 Chaudhary families formed Prabhat Women's Group and women members from 26 Chaudhary families formed Praksh Women's. The groups started group saving. In July 2000 they were gifted with 73 goats. Along with the goats, they received trainings on group management, cornerstones, improved animal management, gender and kitchen gardening. The trainings, values reinforcement, continuous inspiration and coaching from Heifer helped these people to look into themselves and recognize the potential within. Regular Participatory Self Review and Planning (PSRP) broadened their vision. Making own action plans and their successful execution strengthened them with amazing confidence. These women also participated in different exposure visits which helped them to exchange technical knowledge, skill and experiences with other women like themselves.
Exemplifying the Passing on the Gifts Spirit
Within one year of receiving the gift of goats, Pravat and Prakash Women Group formed three other women groups engaging 54 families. Again, forming groups was not easy but they remembered their own context and moved with confidence and perseverance. Mentored these groups, passed on the gift of knowledge and skill as well and then passed on gift of goats.
Meena Chaudhary, member of Pravat group smiles and says, "The gift from Heifer has transformed my life, I wish I would be able to help all the poor families in my village, but at least I can pass on one more goat and support one more family." So did several other group members. They went beyond the requirement of 'equivalent quality & quantity pass on' 51 members of 2 groups were able to support 54 families in three groups with gift of 77 goats, 4 more than what they had received. Meena proudly adds "…… its not only the number of goats that matters, we passed the gift of knowledge and skill too and moreover love and support, that's why our PoG groups Ekta, Milijuli and Deepjyoti have become brilliant and are performing better than us. Together we have been able to form many other groups and lead many activities like building roads, improving school, building dams etc."
Original inputs of 72 goats placed in 51 families in the year 2000, has already reached to four more generation directly benefiting 251 families with 316 goats.
The true spirit of Passing on the Gifts and its Power has been visibly illustrated in the neighborhood. Committed to pass on the benefit to as many families as possible, Pravat and Pravat group have already spread out to two Village Development Committees (VDC) and one municipality of Chitwan district by forming women groups, youth groups and child clubs impacting thousand of population.
The two youth groups they initially formed are taking up the leadership in strenthening all the youth in the community. Some glimpses of youth lead activities:
• Providing free tuition/coaching during the exams.
• Leading reforestation activities and controlling use of plastic
• Have become professional cultural performers and won many awards. Produced promotional videos on Chaudhary culture.
• Providing tutorials on Nepali language so that the youth would perform better in public service examination. (Chaudharies have their own language and are not well versed in Nepali so lag behind in the competions)
The confidence and leadership these groups have exhibited has become example for thousands. People raise their eyebrows when they witness this victory. This unimaginable leap has amazed the local authorities and pay due respect.
The path to economic prosperity
As they learned technical skills on agriculture farming and animal management, they were able to reap more benefits from the gift they received from Heifer. Asia Chaudhary, member of Prabhat Women Group says, "In the past, we practiced traditional methods of farming and used to have poor yield. But now after implementing improved farming, we have been able to flourish in the same land." She added, "With our sound knowledge of animal management and the goats provided by Heifer has become a good source of income."
They had stated monthly group savings with 0.3 dollar each now each member make monthly contribution of 0.92 dollar in the group fund. To enlarge this fund, they have also started various fund raising activities like group hourly work, deusi-bhailo (cultural program), community shop and communal farming. Today their total group fund is USD 10,230 - own resource at hand to invest in any kind of enterprise they plan as well as available to loan for education, medication, building houses and other household needs. The savings has guaranteed sustainability of the group and today they do not have to seek landlords for loan.
They then started to invest surplus income and loan from group fund in other enterprises like buffalo/cattle raising, vegetable and crop farming, grocery shops etc. Now, 23 members of the group has started buffalo and cow raising, 24 members has purchased land (0.05 to 0.25 hector), 25 women have leased land for cultivation, 40 members built concrete houses, 10 has renovated their house while all members built toilet and have kitchen garden in their house.
Prosperity and awareness in people has transformed Belsi. The small huts that they had have been replaced by concrete houses. Sonia Chaudhary, member of Prakash Women Group says, "Before, we used to have thatch huts that used to be swiped away by flood during summer and roof that used to leak in monsoon."
The gender training and the knowledge of cornerstones training that they passed to their husbands has changed their attitude and made them responsible. Shanti Chaudhary, vice president of Prakash Women Group says, "Now my husband has given up gambling and alcohol and helps me with the household chores. He has also started to work and utilizes the income for family expenses rather than squandering it on alcohol."
Other Key Achievements
• Contributed USD 769 and labor for the construction of dam in Kayer River to protect their village from flood that used to sweep away the village every year. Similarly, they also contribute their labor for about 15-18 days every year for its maintenance.
• Constructed almost 5 km of graveled road across the village and taken charge of maintaining it every year.
• Raised funds through hourly group work and installed the first community telephone in their village.
• Took leadership in village cleaning campaigns and forestation.
• Raised funds and have built community center. (costing around USD 4000)
• The group members are invited for their experience sharing. (FM radio, municipality and other government agencies)
• Led a delegation to lobby the government for a school. Now we have an elementary school in the village
• Have established fodder nursery.
• Donated cash and labor to construct health post in the village.
• Coordinated with district agriculture office to start integrated pest management program.
• Conduct rallies against girls trafficking, sexually-transmitted diseases, family planning and education.
• Serving as informal authority for all kinds of conflict management in the community.
• Coordinated with district authority for adult literacy class for the women.
Future Plan
They have plans to institutionalize their groups into a legally recognized NGO and serve the deprived communities at a larger scale. They envision to have own resource base and keep passing on the gift of hope for generations. Sonia Chaudhary said, "We don't want to rely on others for ever. So we want to establish an organization and support many more women to move toward self-reliance."
Conclusion
This journey of Pravat and Prakash group of Belsi, from marginalized ethnic community to donor & social leader is not a miracle. It is a never ending voyage of striving towards excellence. Today they stand strong after rising above adversities with conviction and commitment. There are many communities that have fallen apart in the drench of poverty but Belsi women have stood apart by overcoming poverty and desperation and Passing on the Gifts of knowledge, strength and resources to build happy communities.
Written in May 2008
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