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
Ganga Ghimire
Golden Talent Award – 2008 winner, Ganga Ghimire
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Name: Ganga Ghimire
Age: 35
Address: Madanpur VDC, Nawalparasi, Lumbini, Nepal
Project Name: Women Feeling Livestock Project.
Project Activity Number: 22-0531-01-20
Name of group: Narayani Women Saving Group.
Struggle for new life
Ganga Ghimire, 35, was born in as a third child, among 11 children, in a large and joint family of 35 people at Badhgaon, 5 km away from Tamghas, headquarter of Gulmi, western hills district of Nepal. Although her father had many children, he wanted all her children to be literate. So she got to study till she passed School Leaving Certificate (SLC) in 1990. The same year, her marriage was fixed with Anantaram Ghimire of the same village. Anantaram worked in Nepal Police and so her parents thought that he will be able to feed well their daughter and hastened for the marriage. Bonded by social pressures and traditions, she submitted to her parent’s decision without much retaliation.
As she reached her new home, she had to adjust to a family of 15 people in a small hut which could barely hold all of them in it. The discriminations and ill-traditions followed in the house made her life further difficult. The major chunk of land was barren and the production from it was hardly enough for three months. Since her husband worked away from home, she was ill-treated by the family members and moreover, she couldn’t even get her hands on the money that her husband sent. Petty family disputes and poverty was the everyday issue and fed up with all these things, she left her home and went to her maternal house to live there. After 15 months, her husband was transferred to Lamjung and took her with him. There she gave birth to her first son. Today she is a mother of one more son and a daughter. Later after her husband was again transferred to another district she had to return to her home. Her difficulty ascended after her husband left the job and started to remain at home. Her husband turned a deaf ear and blind eye to the problems she faced and cared less about her.
Being unable to take the difficulties of life, she and her husband decided to migrate to Nawalparasi and settle in a piece of land that belonged to her brother-in-law. The outcome from the tiny piece of land was not enough to feed her family of five. So her husband left for India for job and she started to sustain her family with the loan from local grocery. As she didn’t have any steady source of income, she used to pay her debts with the food and money brought from her maternal home. Her life became harder at this new place as well rather than being eased.
Heifer’s Intervention
She saw a ray of hope in her gloomy life when she met with staff of Women Feeling Unity Forum (WFUF), Heifer Nepal’s project partner. After learning about what a self help group could do, she decided to form one in her village too. With the strong desire to something, she convinced other women like her and formed Narayani Women Group with 25 women in 2000. As her husband was against it, she kept it to herself and started to save 0.07 dollars as monthly saving and took part in the group activities. After a year, she and her group members got two goats each along with cornerstones, group management and improved livestock management trainings from Heifer Nepal. After the cornerstones training, she gained self confidence and felt that she too has the potential to bring herself out of the poor situation and took a loan of 31 dollars from her group fund. With the loan, she started banana plantation 0.16 hector land which she had leased from her brother-in-law. Ganga happily says, “With my hard work and my newly acquired self-confidence, I could earn 538 dollars from the plantation.” With the income she only paid her loan amount and also other loans that she had taken earlier.
Seeing her dedication to uplift the group, her group chose her to attend Village Animal Health Worker (VAHW) training. "From this training, I broadened my knowledge and skill that allow me a new opportunity and scope to serve the people in the village," she said. "Although I could not satisfy my desire to be a staff nurse, today I feel satisfied and happy to work as VAHW and serve my community.” She said that she earns 46 dollars every month from the sell of medicines and her service.
As the saying, “Hard work pays,” her goat also started to give kids. She passed on the two goats after the year of receiving the goats from Heifer. She invested the income from the second kidding of her goats and banana plantation to start vegetable farming and was successful to earn 538 dollars in one season. The more she started to earn, the more she labored hard. So, in the next year, she was able to earn 692 dollars from banana plantation alone. With this income, her savings, her husband’s earnings from India and a loan of 308 dollars, she bought 0.17 hector of land in 1846 dollars. She paid back the loan after three months with the income from vegetable farming. To further enhance her earning and to provide nutritious diet to her children, Ganga bought a buffalo worth 461 dollars for which she took a loan of 230 dollars from the group. Ganga share, “My buffalo gave 7 liters milk everyday. I earned 46 dollars every month with the sell of 5 liters milk per day. I could pay back the loan in less than six months with the income from milk and goats.” With the slurry from the dung, she installed bio gas plant in her house to make her kitchen smoke free.
As her economic problems started to get solved, her husband began to look at her with respect and decided to stay at home to help her rather than going abroad. He was happy with the changes that she brought in the family and started to shower love and care on her. She says, “We never cared about each other. That was the reason why we couldn’t solve our economic problems. After the cornerstones training, we realized our mistakes and now we work together and share our problems and happiness.” With the increased income, she bought her brother-in-law’s land and built a four-roomed house there with 4615 dollars, for which she took a loan of 1538 dollars from the group fund. She has already paid back the loan with her income from livestock and agriculture. Today, she lives an easy and respected life in the village.
Her Achievements:
• With the improved economic condition, she is able to send children to private school.
• She is the secretary of Maiti Nepal Village Network.
• She is a secretary of Poverty Alleviation Program in her village.
• She is a treasurer in her village temple.
• She is invited to take part in the Village Development Committee.
• Under her leadership, the group has started various community activities in the village such as road maintenance, construction of school building, temples, health post, drinking water etc.
Future Plan
As she couldn’t materialize her desire to be a nurse and serve people, today she is happy that she is in the position to treat animals and serve her community people. So she wishes one of her children to be a veterinarian. She also envisions changing her group to a cooperative. Similarly, she is planning to pass on the gift of one goat to a poor woman in her community.
Conclusion
Ganga’s achievements and progress has challenged the traditional belief of Nepali society that women are the weak gender and they should always depend on men for their livelihood. Ganga has challenged such beliefs and has come out as an achiever and a role model to other women in her community.
Written in 21 July 2008
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