Less two-feeted donkeys in Hariharpur

The cultural development has moved at warp-speed in Hariharpur. However, the economical development is not what the villagers had hoped for when they began working with Jana Adarsha Social Centre.

By Malene Lærke

09. August 2007

“This is the poultry farm that started production just some months ago. Here works the black smith. He was encouraged to start up this business just after the group was formed. This shop has been supported with loans from the group. This rice mill we have supported financially as well.”

And Hari Prasad Khanal could go on as he points out developments in Hariharpur – a small village in ward no. 1 in Hariharpur VDC, Kabilvastu district. He talks and walks fast while crisscrossing between the houses and the fields being a picture of the development in the village that seethes of activities this Saturday afternoon.

Many things have happened in the village and as Hari Prasad Khanal says: “In this village there are seven four-feeted donkeys and there used to be a lot of two-feeted donkeys as well. Today there are less two-feeted donkeys in this village.” He says it as a joke and laughs but between the words there is a seriousness that one should not be mistaken about. Working with Jana Adarsha Social Centre, JASC has moved the villagers culturally and broken down barriers between genders, castes and families. Economically though the community with 750 inhabitants are yet to experience having more money in their pockets.

Ten rupees too much

The villagers are poor and struggle to get out of poverty. When JASC approached the community and suggested a cooperation the villagers were excited but a dilemma arose after several discussions. A part of the programme was to collect ten rupees each month to support development in the community. This would be far too much to contribute some villagers thought.

“We are very poor and for many one or two rupees are a lot to give out but we talked and were convinced that this would be good for our well-being and that this would be good for us,” says Lila Pandey, chairperson of Hariyali Community Center.

Although the evidence of development is visual in the community like the rice mill the villagers are still waiting to see more money in their hands. The root causes as to why we are poor, the villagers explain is that the families are by birth poor, the families get too many children which gradually increase the poverty and the children do not get any education.

“From morning till evening we have to worry about food,” says treasurer Rameshwor Prasad Chaudhary Tharu.

The villagers had hoped for an economical change in their community but it is happening very slowly.

“We don’t have enough money to make more money. The needy people in our community want to start goat keeping and poultry farming but we cannot provide as much capital as they need. But at least something is happening and we are happy about that,” explains Rameshwor Prasad Chaudhary Tharu and continues:

“The economical change is limited but on the other hand there has been drastic social and cultural changes. We have received many trainings from JASC and that has made a change there is unbelievable.”

A “horrible” place to live

The environment in the village before is described as “terrible”, “horrible” and “not a friendly place to be” by the villagers. It was a community where too many people drank too much, there was lots of fighting terrorising the community and loud music at night, people would quarrel and turn against each other, discriminated each other and the level of unity was below zero. The root causes the villagers explain was poverty, no education, caste discrimination, no gender equality, blind faith, pressure from “high people” and family pressure.

“During our period we had to follow strict rules as women. We had to be kept away from our family in a shelter and sleep on the floor. And when a woman needed medical help during child birth none was given to her. Today these problems have been solved and there is no more discrimination and hate,” tells Lila Pandey.

Sita Belbase, member of the centre, recalls the days where the young women were not allowed to go to meetings because it would be challenging their reputation in the community.

“You must not participate my mother in law would tell me.”

“And we were not allowed to speak to a male person or walk on the road alone. The neighbours would be criticising that this woman did not take care of her child. There would be a lot of bad mouthing and rumours about a woman that walked alone on the road,” tells Mina Khanal, member of the centre.

The women met secretly when going for wood or water or they arranged to meet in houses where the mother in law was dead and could not control the young woman in the house. Sometimes the women covered for each other so that the other one could go to a meeting secretly.

“We made plans about the future and how we could tell our mother in laws that we would no longer obey them and we talked about how things were different in other communities. We all agreed that we should be active and bold and be able to go to trainings and we began to command what we wanted and we got it,” recalls Lila Pandey.

The women were not the only ones experiencing family pressure. Also the men had a hard time coping with the “senior people” in the community.

“We were strictly disciplined but not like the women. I was not allowed to go around for the senior people without getting permission. And I was not allowed to go to school,” says Hari Prasad Khanal.

“In my family we had to marry at a very young age. I got married when I was 12 years old, tells Joknu Raidas and is interrupted by Hiralal Raidas: “I got married when I was four,” he says while blushing.

Today the age of marriage has risen but that has presented a new problem for the community. Before there was no talk about dowry because the children were not grown up but today money is demanded.

And so the list could go on. The children have begun to go school; caste discrimination belongs to the past, women dares to talk to the men and in all a positive development has happened in the village. However, explaining what there have triggered the change in the community, what there was in the trainings that made the difference is difficult for the villagers. An observation tour to other communities is stressed as leaving an important foot prints in their way of thinking.

“On the observation tour we saw things with our own eyes and we learned how we could do things practically in our own community. This mainly affected our brains. For instance, before the boys did not go to school but spend the day playing with marbles; neither did the girls because they just had to get married. Today we know the importance of education and send our children to school,” tells Rameshwor Prasad Chaudhary Tharu.

A good place to live

Today the villagers find it pleasant to live in the village. There is no more quarrelling and when it happens the women are asked to mediate and to find solutions.

“We were hated in our own families but now we are respected by everyone. Even by the males,” says Lila Pandey.

The turning point was when the women organised a campaign to stop the drinking of alcohol in the community. The women began the campaign by making a procession through the village shouting: You must not drink alcohol from now on. To which the men replied: A wife like you is not necessary.

The men in the community were quite angry the women recalls and today they laugh about it because they were able so show their true colours and power when a man had beaten his wife.

“One man used to drink a lot of alcohol. After one incident where he had beaten his wife we dragged him down to the police station to file a report. We became very famous and even the high superior people come to us to ask for advice,” tells Lila Pandey.

Today it costs a fine of 500 rupees to drink alcohol in the community. So far 3500 rupees has been collected. Money that will be spent on development in the small community that today has less two-feeted donkeys.