Lightining on before rain at OliGaun.

Image Caption Maximum 200 words

Image Caption Maximum 200 words

Sunita Bista class 10. She is in her period. She has to walk different way while on her period.

We are not allowed to enter the house while we are menstruating, even to get food if we are hungry. We do not get proper care if we feel unwell. Nobody touches us. People fear getting possessed. People talk about how we should build safer sheds, but nobody really takes the initiative.

17-year-old Nita Mijar from Mangalsen Municipality-10, Jupu has just finished her Grade 10 exams. Nita does not want to go the cattle shed. But if she does not go to the cattle shed for a month or two, her family and the villagers start asking questions like “Why aren’t you menstruating? What has happened? Did you have physical relations with some man? Are you pregnant?” These questions keep her going to the cattle shed. She enjoys going to the forest for walks and goes with her friends whenever she’s free. In the forest, she pours her sorrows out in songs.

14 year-old Pawan Pariyar from Oligaun studies in Grade 7. She usually holds either first or second position in class. While excelling academically, she is interested in sports as well. Her father is in India for work. Her older sister got married last year so now, after her mother, Pawan is the oldest in her family. She is responsible for a lot of the household chores; she cooks, does the dishes, fetches water, gathers fodder for the cattle, takes the ox out to graze and looks after her younger brother. Pawan started menstruating this year and now feels like she is a grown up. Like her mother and her aunts tell her, she too feels like now she shouldn’t go out alone and should be careful when she speaks.

Gita Mijar is 16 and is studying in grade 9. Once, when she got her periods, Gita decided to not tell anyone. She cooked. She served food to the people who had come to work in the fields. She gave her neighbor, an old woman, food and water with her own two hands. She had heard the old woman say how if a menstruating woman touched her would go insane. Fear lurked. Gita held on to her courage and did not tell anyone. She kept an eye on the old woman to see if anything would happen to her, but nothing happened. Gita was convinced that it was all a delusion. From that day on, she knew that the fear that her family had harbored regarding chhaupadi was nothing but superstition. But Gita still feels compelled to follow the rules. Her friends and neighbors have been talking about the need to break this tradition, but everyone continues to go to the cattle shed.

Tejana Khanal ( left) from Mangalsen is 18 years old. She is waiting for her grade 10 results. Her brother is a shaman so out of the fear of touching her brother, she and her sister-in-law go to the cattle shed when they menstruate. People say menstruating women should not consume cow milk or fruit. Sometimes Tejana touches the fruit trees. They remain the same. Still, Tejana believes in her religion and culture and so is fearful of what might happen if she does not follow the chhaupadi rules.

Gita Mijar is 16 and is studying in grade 9. During her menstruation, Gita usually goes to the cattle shed. She wakes up early in the morning around 3 or 4, bathes, gathers fodder and firewood before going to school.

I enjoy going to the forest for walks. I go with my friends whenever I am free. I like to sing in the forest.

Dip in the Water

17-year-old Nita Mijar from Mangalsen Municipality-10, Jupu has just finished her Grade 10 exams. She is responsible for a lot of work at home, in the kitchen and the fields. Her parents work and live in India while Nita, her grandmother and her younger brother live at home. Her older brother lives in Birgunj and is studying to be an engineer. Nita does not want to go the cattle shed. But if she does not go to the cattle shed for a month or two, her family and the villagers start asking questions like “Why aren’t you menstruating? What has happened? Did you have physical relations with some man? Are you pregnant?” These questions keep her going to the cattle shed. She enjoys going to the forest for walks and goes with her friends whenever she’s free. In the forest, she pours her sorrows out in songs.

Cloths

Stone

Oligaun is an hour by foot from Mangalsen, the district headquarters of Achham. It is less remote than most villages in Achham. The village is mixed – Chhetri families live in close quarters with Pariyar and Mijar families. Oligaun is home to Mangala Nepal Rastriya Madhyamik Vidhyalaya, a high school that offers technical education. It is the only one of its kind in all of Achham. Most households in Oligaun have both but at least one member of the family – mostly the men – working in India. Many young people aspire to leave. It is quite common for girls to marry by 16. Chhaupadi has been outlawed by Nepali law since 2005 and criminalized since August 2018. Oligaun has been declared a chhaupadi-free zone by local authorities. Most households still enforce the tradition.

Dhanasara Mijar, 14, Oli Gaun.

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Nirmala Rawal, grade 9 student, Oli Gaun