Day 4: Nepal Exchange
Between the Kathmandu morning rush hour traffic (the worst I’d ever seen until we returned to Kathmandu during the evening rush hour) and the road conditions leading out to the small villages in the Kavre District, we are on the road for almost three hours before we arrived at Kushadevi Village Development Committee. Rakshya and Nirmala told me to expect to meet 20 women who were interested in joining one of the new Self Help Groups for women with disabilities (including Dalit women with disabilities) that are the focus of our joint project. We were greeted by 48 women! Some women had disabilities, some were parents and others were friends, family members or local activists. Many had walked or ridden a minibus for up to two hours to attend. Attendance was evidence of FEDO and NDWA‘s strong outreach and networking throughout Nepal.
The women introduced themselves and spoke about barriers they face as women with disabilities. There were parents of children with disabilities in the room and they spoke about their children. Nirmala explained the purpose of the SHGs—developing advocacy skills and working together to address barriers in their villages, and ultimately at the national level. The SHGs will also serve as income generating groups for the women, beginning with a micro-loan fund, which was made possible through a mini-grant from the US State Department.
Nirmala also gave a briefing on Nepal’s social security system for the women. Nepal offers a range of “disabled identity cards” that come with various levels of services and support. At the most generous level, the red card supplies a 10,000 rupees (about $10) stipend each month along with other services and is available to people with multiple disabilities. At the other end of the spectrum, the white card provides you with reduced transit fees. Surprisingly, all the cards provide a 50% airfare reduction!
The SHGs are a tradition among women in Nepal. The SHGs in our project will each have nine women with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities. After Nirmala explained the purpose of the group and the responsibilities of its members, there were 15 women interested in joining the nine member group. The final membership includes women with all types of disabilities and parents. They got directly down to business by calling a meeting, electing a president, secretary and treasurer. They created a roster, named the group (The Kushadevi VDC Disabled Women Self Help Group), set a date and planned the agenda for its next meeting, talked about dates for the first advocacy training, and finished the minutes for today’s meeting (which made me jealous considering how long I procrastinate on DREDF board meeting minutes).
As it should be, we shared a meal after the meeting and chatted about our lives. They were curious about life in the US. It was good opportunity to talk to them about MIUSA exchange programs for adults and students. As we broke up, children were just leaving the school near the VDC building, and joined us as we said goodbye. It was really a lovely, lovely day.
At the end of the day, back in my room I realized that the women in this inaccessible rural area have few opportunities to be with their peers or, in this paternal nation, very few opportunities to lead and manage. The SHGs offer them an opportunity to exercise their passion and knowledge to create change. It’s no wonder there was such a big turnout.
