We got our independence

The women in Babanaghar Kuti dreamed about independence but they had no decision power over their lives. Through a Dalit Welfare Organisation saving group they have gained equality.

By Malene Lærke

01. March 2007

There was only a few ways for the women to make money. They could do hard labour work or go to the jungle and cut fire wood and sell it the next day in Nepalgunj.

“We were all so very poor. We had always tension about how to get food for the next meal. We were uncivilised and illiterate. We did not know how to eat or dress and we did not know right from wrong and we were always getting pressure in the community from higher castes,” tells Ganga B.K., member of the Agreement Women Saving Group in Babanaghar Kuti, ward no. 8 in Kohalpur VDC in Banke district.

“Because we are Dalits we have so many problems and when we got an idea that could improve our lives we needed money and could not do anything. It is expensive to borrow money and to get rid of that problem we established this group to save up money,” explains Manju Pariya, chairperson of the group.

The women wanted to save up money so they could start doing business and make themselves independent and able to manage on their own.

“Also because of being women we were discriminated and hated even in our own family so we asked ourselves why we did not start to do things for ourselves to improve our own lives. We also wanted to get rid of the bad habit of women to be shy,” says treasurer Shanta B.K.

The Agreement Women Saving Group has 22 members and small businesses have begun to mushroom since the group started in September in 2000. Each month they all put 40 rupees into their joint fund. They do goat farming, sell milk from cows and buffaloes and 21 year old Shanta B.K. has borrowed 6000 rupees from the group to fund a small shop in the village.

“The main thing for me is that I have become financial independent. I always had to borrow money and my husband would not give me any. Today I have my own money and I am happy,” tells Shanta B.K.

When the women started the group they had many hopes and dreams for the future.

“Our main dream was that when we had savings our basic problems would be solved and we no longer would have the need for loans and we would be independent. Our second dream was to be able to give our children an education, pay for our daughters weddings and send our boys abroad to work and make good money for us,” tells member Nirmala Nepali.

To help the women to fulfil their dreams they have received several trainings from Dalit Welfare Organisation, DWO. Through the trainings the women had learned that they have their own rights and have a right to be right.

“We have become more and more bold and frank. After the advocacy training we learned to talk about our problems. We were dominated but now we know the value of our rights and how to use it properly. We have definitely learned about justice for all people,” says member Sabitri Baniya.

The women also says it is a change for them that they now can read and write and send letters independently, sow their own clothes, to be clean and to use sanitation and they feel that they have become respected in the community.

“We are equal now and we are no longer untouchables. We have learned the value of talking and interaction because when you talk together new ideas will emerge and we can give our own speech. We are finally respected,” says Nirmala Nepali.

“The main thing is that we are independent. We are no longer paralysed and captured. We used to spend our time for others but now we can we can do something for ourselves. We have learned the great lesson that you cannot do this alone and that corporation and unity is vital, says Shanta B.K.

“Our big lesson is that our lives could not get any worse but we have made a step forward. Now we need to be dynamic. We can send our children to school and because we have an income we can move ahead,” concludes Sabitri Baniya.

Happy to live in the Dalit community

Manju Pariyar was born a non-Dalit and comes from a rich family. When she was 18 she married a Dalit.

By Malene Lærke

09. March 2007

“I did not know the life of a Dalit. When I married my husband I did it because I love him and now I have experienced the life of Dalits with discrimination and poverty,” tells Manju Pariyar who lives in Babanaghar Kuti, ward no. 8 in Kohalpur VDC in Banke district.

She met her husband when she was 18 years old and chose to flee from her family to marry him. Today she is 31 years of age and has a daughter and a son. She has not seen her family which lives in Nepalgunj since she fled in the middle of the night. When she thinks back on her life before her marriage she tells it was a happy with enough to eat.

“I always thought that Dalits are poor and uneducated and that they are only concentrated about their own community. That was what I was raised to believe. Now I have myself experienced discrimination and I know what it does to a human being,” she says.

“When I met my husband I knew it was love and I did not care about what would happen. It was my personal choice to follow my heart instead of my father’s opinion and I am always happy. I am a bold woman and I think I am 100 percent successful in what I have done,” tells Manju Pariyar.

Moving from the home of a rich landlord to a poor Dalit community was quite a change for the young girl but she finds that she made the right choice.

“It was a change but because I was with my husband it was no problem for me. My husband is educated and loving and he has always been providing everything for our daughter and son. He is always nice and kind and I don’t regret anything. In his family everybody are well educated so I did not feel that this is a Dalit family. The only thing that is shrinking my heart is that that my children cannot go and visit my family during Dasain,” she concludes.