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  • Travel log: 2076/2019 follow-up trip, adapting and planning for the future

    Travel log: 2076/2019 follow-up trip, adapting and planning for the future

    We were in Kathmandu, nearly ready to start our journey to Achham.

    This time the team that travelled from Kathmandu was composed by Rupa: Project Manager; Simran: student of International Cooperation in training; Sharmila: community health, although she came as translator; Rita: journalist, who joined the project to take pictures in person of what is happening there and thus round up a story on the work we do; Clara: Managing Director of the Project; and Bea: menstrual therapist.

    On arrival to Mangalsen the girls were waiting for us: Tejana and Manisha as Project Coordinators, Hiunkala and Rohina as trainers, and Tulsi, Manisha, Kamala, Rabina and Janaki as mentors.

    The first point in the agenda was arriving to Mangalsen and prepare the trainers and the mentors on how would the follow-up take place. It was important that all of them knew what was expected from them.

    As always, getting to Mangalsen was a real adventure, a mixture of buses and jeeps, interspersed with stops for tea and snacks to survive the 2 days journey (we have shortened it by one day!!).

    In a single day we explained the whole team how to do the follow up, the routines, times and materials, and divided ourselves into groups to cover the 12 villages we had to visit. In each team there were girls for whom this wasn’t the first time they we are doing a follow up, and they knew the annual routine.

    We were 3 teams, each of which, as first task, visited a village in the Sanphebagar municipality (Patalkot, Sirkot y Kalsen), and then we would have to visit the three villages in each of the other municipalities: Turmakhand, Dhakari and Mangalsen.

    We split up and started with the follow up. We spent 3 nights in each village and during that time we had to find all the women in the village and all the girls from school who were using the menstrual cup, undertake the follow up, and the day before leaving show everybody in the village the film from Mira Rai.

    Luckily, we had divided the tasks within the group, so we worked together as efficiently as possible, something that, in Nepal, sometimes seems quite impossible!

    We noticed immediately that locating all the women was very difficult, most of them were out in the fields, working, and they had no time to come to the school to do the follow up. So, as the saying goes, “If Muhammad will not come to the mountain, then the mountain must go to Muhammad”: we swept the whole village and surroundings looking for women, knocking on all doors, asking the people we found in the roads…

    After this first village, we all met in Sanphebagar, to comment about the visit, discuss the problems we may have had, and any arising queries. We had lunch together and shared our first impressions. Rupa’s health had been quite poor during those first days and seeing that she wasn’t improving, we decided that it was better if she went back to Kathmandu with Rita by plane from Dhangadhi.

    In the three villages things had only gone so-so, which made us think that somebody had been disrupting the work, and we had our suspicions on whom this was (and more than just suspicions…).

    During the following days, our 3 groups visited the 9 remaining villages: Jupu, Banatoli and Mangalsen, three from the Mangalsen municipality; Dhamali, Toshi and Raniban, from the municipality of Turmakhad; and Hichma, Dhungachalna and Dhakari from the municipality of Dhakari.

    We did not find all the users, so it was clear that the job was not finished, and we decided that the trainers would continue at the beginning of December. We needed to know if each user of the cup had been using it, if they were happy with it, if they needed anything, if thanks to the use of the cups and the workshops we did in May their relationship with the menstruation had improved, and if anything had changed in how they live their period days; and the most important thing, are they still subject to the Chhaupadi?

    All this information is crucial for the continuation of the project. We finished with the last village on the 15th of November, brought all the remaining material to Mangalsen and got ready to go back to Kathmandu.

    The Achham girls will undergo a further training of the menstrual cup in February, and the team will return in May from Kathmandu for the 2020 Project.

    We continue working, with all our heart and enthusiasm put in the project. Thank you for supporting it!

    Text & photos© by Bea San Román - Traslation by Tere Salinero

     

    Please become a member. It is important. We need you.

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    Thank You! 🙂

  • Exploring myself (Nepali Volunteer Testimonial)

    Exploring myself (Nepali Volunteer Testimonial)

    Testimonial write in Nepali by Rupa Pandey, after the Nepali one you can read the English translation.



    Just like every other day, on January the 11th, 2019, I was checking my Facebook and suddenly a post drew my attention: that post was about the Rato Baltin Project, about the menstrual tradition “Chhaupadi”, which is still practised and deeply rooted in the Achham district, Far West part of Nepal, and explained how the project had been helping women and girls in menstruating age for two years by conducting a menstrual health management awareness program and providing health and environment friendly options to the sanitary pad, i.e. the “menstrual cup”, which makes menstruation a little easier for women and girls in Achham.

    The word “Chhaupadi” disturbed me a lot, this word is so cruel in its meaning. When mentioning Chhaupadi we only talk about Achham, but some kind of Chhaupadi is still practised in each and every village and cities of Nepal. The only difference is that menstruating women and girls in Achham are forced to sleep in the chaugoth. Except that, everything is quite similar: don’t touch this, don’t go there, don’t do this, you are impure… We have grown up with all these restrictions and heard these harsh words all our life, which is truly painful.

    After reading this post, I felt a strong impulse to help in the project so I immediately wrote a message to the Rato Baltin project in the “How can we help the project apart from with financial support?” part. The next day, on the 12th January 2019, Rato Baltin replied to my message with a “Hello, My name is Clara, you can come to our office if you want to help”, and including the location map. This was how my relationship with Rato Baltin started.

    I started to work in Rato Baltin as a volunteer from that January, and my main responsibility was to translate all the documents related to the project into Nepali. Clara asked me if I wanted to go to Achham in April for the project. At the beginning I told her that I would only go for 15 days, but later I changed my mind and wanted to go for 2 months, say the full period of the Rato Baltin Project in Achham. This decision changed my life in a very positive manner.

     

     

    When we finished all the work for the project in the Kathmandu office, we left for Achham on the 14th April 2019. After 2 days of travelling by bus and jeep, we reached Sanfebagar, municipality of Achham, where we were given a course to become trainers for 10 days. The Rato Baltin project had been working in the Mangalsen municipality for 2 years only, but from this year the project was going to work in one more municipality: Sanfebagar, and 2 rural municipalities – Dhakari and Turmakhat.

    On the 17th of April 2019, the education of the trainers started. 5 foreign volunteers were also with us to help with the project. My job during the training was to translate the training scripts, make our trainers and mentor understand the scripts, and translate their questions and curiosity to Clara. I was there as a translator because all our mentors and trainers were local girls from Achham, who had difficulties in understanding English. During the 10 days of training in Safebagar, I had the opportunity to know our mentors, trainers and foreign volunteers, and to learn to live together helping each other. Every day after the training we used to go for a coffee and a brownie. A brownie in Achham was like water in the desert. Now when I remember those moments, I realize that to be happy you don’t really need big things, as even small things can give us so much happiness.

    When the 10 days training finished, it was the moment for the teams to leave for their work destination. Every team had 1-1 foreign volunteer. Saying goodbye was really hard for me after the bonding we had formed, but I knew I would get the opportunity to meet with all the group members again because Clara and I were in the managing team.

    As the managing team, Clara and I had to visit at least one village of each team and evaluate and supervise their work. I was able to see again all the members of each team and had the opportunity to get closer and to know them more. The girls called me didi (elder sister), and they used to come to me for each and every problem they were having. At the beginning I generally taught them with anger and rudeness, but slowly I realized that I could help them with patience, care and love.

    This project has made me learn to be more patient and kinder in my personal life. The foreign volunteers also needed my help whenever they had to communicate with the girls because neither the foreign volunteers nor our girls could understand each other’s language. I was helping them to connect with each other and understand what they wanted to convey. It was my privilege to be able to help.

    I had a good relationship with all the foreign volunteers. Even though we were from different cultures and backgrounds, we were able to live as a family, helping each other and comforting each other whenever we missed our families. During the stay in the remote village of Achham, sometimes we had to sleep in same room, and at times, due to the superstition of the Chhaupadi, we had to spend the night at the school’s library. Even the simple food we ate in the village was tasty because of the affection that people showed us. We didn’t even have basic things we needed in the village, but I never felt like I was missing something. Two months in Achham has taught me a lot, and I was able to see real the Nepal. I will always thank Clara and the Rato Baltin for this opportunity.
    I consider myself very lucky to be able to help the women and girls of Achham. I felt so proud when I saw our mentors’ and volunteers’ confidence growing slowly with the Project and being empowered. In a society where menstruation is considered a taboo, when our girls describe how clean and pure the menstrual blood is, I really feel proud to be a woman. The work the Rato Baltin Project is doing for the women and girls from Achham is really significant and deserves respect. I cannot describe the happy faces of the women and girls when they were able to talk about their menstruation and when they were receiving the menstrual cups. The Rato Baltin Project is actually changing the menstruation conditions of the Achhami female population. It is priceless.

     

     

    Now, I am back to my regular life, but the 2 months in Achham will always be in my heart. Those moments are very precious to me. All those memories from Achham, like bathing in the community tap with our petit-cot, waiting in the queue for using the toilet, the evening walk to the village and through the forest being so beautiful. The simple life and the love of the people of Achham has made this place very special to my heart. I feel like Achham is my second home.

    While working with the Rato Baltin Project in Achham for 2 months I had the opportunity to learn a lot of things. I established some very precious and beautiful relationships which will always remain in my heart. The love and affection from our girls make me feel like they are my own little sisters (bahini), and I wish for their happiness and progress in their future lives.

    My confidence has grown together with that of our girls. I can feel the change in Rupa before Achham and after Achham, and this change is very positive. I had the opportunity to know myself and my capabilities. I have developed the ability to cope with and handle difficult situations, of how to live and work together in a team, and to be able to be helpful to others. The Rato Baltin Project has given me a beautiful family. I want to express my gratitude to the Rato Baltin Project and to Clara for accepting me as a member and giving me the chance to grow positively.

    Thank you so much, Clara and the Rato Baltin Project, for believing in me.

    Written by Rupa Pandey, photos © Anne-Laure Crepin, correction by Ixone Saenz and Tere Salinero.

    West Nepal girls need this kind of program. And we need help to continue the project!

    Paypal recurring donations:

    Select a Donation Option (EUR)

    Enter Donation Amount (EUR)

    Or if you feel like it, you can donate via bank transfer at: Banc Sabadell IBAN: ES23 0081 0900 8200 0430 1934 BIC: BSABESBB (your recurring donation will help us have a better planning of our budget to carry out the projects undertaken).

    Or take a look to others ways to donate at http://beartsy.org/get-involved-with-rato-baltin/   or https://beartsy.org/become-an-associate/
    Thank You! 🙂

  • Putting the seed of the counterpower (Volunteer Testimonial)

    Putting the seed of the counterpower (Volunteer Testimonial)

    One day, in the Facebook of the university where I am studying a degree in Cultural and Social Anthropology, I read a note where it said that they were looking for anthropologist volunteers for a project in Nepal. This name, Nepal, caught my attention; a country that I really like, that I have visited seven times and where, from my first landing in Kathmandu, not having yet gotten out from the airport, I felt like arriving to some familiar place. I was in a moment in my life when I could afford to take some months off and therefore I sent my application to the NGO.

    I spoke with Bea via Skype, who explained the project and the cultural practice, the Chhaupadi, the reason for the intervention of the NGO in the community; custom which, despite my trips to Nepal, I ignored was being applied in such a strong manner.

    Once selected, they explained to me my role as anthropologist: “to find a strategy to involve the shamans and men in the process of raising the level of awareness that was expected to be achieved with the intervention”.

    Yeah, yeah, easy (of course this is ironical, especially for an anthropologist in training), but I liked it, because it showed the full all levels approach of the NGO.

    I had never collaborated with an NGO, I have always been a bit mistrustful; therefore, I made up a plan B (yes, because I am more of having a plan B, unlike Bea, wonderful person, member of be artsy, who focuses all her energies for plan A to go to term), deciding to take with me all my mountain gear to lose myself in the powerful and energetic Himalayas in case the project would not finally be to my liking…. Well, I did some trekking alright, but at the end of the project, because I really loved this latter.

    The project tries to raise awareness in the people of the community about what the menstruation is, giving a sexual, menstrual and health workshop in schools, and offering the menstrual cup as an ecological and hygienic solution, bearing in mind that many women use rags or have on two, three pieces of underwear, instead of using pads.

    This education is important, considering that in the school curriculum there isn’t yet a section treating those subjects. Reason why the Chhaupadi practice is so deep-rooted, because they don’t know what the menstruation is in its biological sense.

    During my interviews, to the question “what is the menstruation?” the reply was Chhaupadi. That is, they make no difference between the biological process and the tradition, whose real origin is unknown but which is still being passed on from generation to generation by the elders. That superstition about women being impure is the only information teenage girls receive about what the menstruation is.

     

     

    The workshops are addressed to children and teenagers, of both sexes, who in some years will become husbands, wives and parents, potential agents of change; whereas the oldest people, both men and women, together with the shamans, are not inclined to any change in what refers to this custom. This is just a reflection of the social structure: patriarchal, where the woman occupies a subordinated role and the elders hold a lot of power. This is a custom that has no benefits of any kind for the women nor grants any service, except to support the stratification of gender in the social fabric.

    The focus is in teenagers and children, but at the same time includes the people who hold positions of power within the community: they are informed, but they are not let to be in full command.

    That is another point I like, because letting them the leadership would mean changing the form but not the substance: power and recognition would still be granted to those who already have it, leaving women in the shadows, confirming an unequal structure of power.

    The ones imparting the workshops are local girls who live in the community, concept that achieves what I have most liked of the project: be artsy is giving an opportunity to these girls, providing them with knowledge through some intensive training, paying them, and, above all, the most valuable of all: it gives them self-assurance, the chance to empower themselves and be independent. Not the negative and destructing power that society allocates to them, but the power to break the mental framework that makes them feel inferior and impure.

    This is the thing that has moved me the most: to see how girls of between 16 and 18 years old have changed, after 50 days of being together.

    Hiukala, the trainer in my group, is 18 years old, and, more than others, represents that quick and intense change. When I met her during the training she was so shy that when I asked her: “what’s your name?” she replied whispering her name and looking down; to speak in public, impossible.

    To be honest I could not picture her giving workshops in front of dozens of teenagers and speaking with the shamans, but I was mistaken. Day after day, with much effort and determination, together with Kamala, Goma and Basanti, the other girls in the group, I saw how she was becoming stronger until being able to go to her village and say to her parents that, from that moment onwards, she would not accept to be thrown out during her menstruation days.

     

     

    They became a symbol for the women in her own community and above all a reference, because every two months the trainers do a follow-up with the women and girls using the cup, both to monitor the correct use of the cup as well as its impact in what regards the Chhaupadi.

    Here I introduce another point in favour of the project: by training girls from the community, they give them the necessary tools to pass on the knowledge, as well as favouring the development of a context of debate that in other case would not exist given the political (the subordination of the women), socio-cultural and financial environment, which has them all the time occupied with tasks concerning the housekeeping and family care. They build a joint space from where resistance and change can arise, but leaving the choice to the people in the community, who will activate the change if they really wish to and see it necessary.

    One form of resistance that shows up these days is only by songs describing the sufferings that the Chhaupadi brings and pleading the gods to leave them free to remain at home.

    Last, but not least, is the part of the participative photography.

    The cultural diversity is not only notorious in the external, material and visible, but also in invisible aspects like emotions, some predominating more than others.

     

     

    Talking about the menstruation prevails the embarrassment over the ease, so using pictures instead of talking, as an alternative way of communication, but equally efficient, women are invited to share their opinion and experience about the menstruation, method that highlights the sensitivity of the project.

    This project has got effects not only exclusively on the people of the community, but also on the ones involved: my experience in the field has been very intense, especially from a human point of view.

    Starting by the team of be artsy, all of them wonderful people, few, but who are worth a lot, who despite the many difficulties and unforeseen issues that creep up daily to bring forward the project with determination and commitment, as volunteers and for free.

    Their work is characterized by the effort, the passion, the way of giving themselves to the cause, the trust in activism and social change, which, as I have mentioned before, is reflected in the quality of the project.

    I was surprised by the transparency in the management and the care and attention to all people involved. All of these reasons that made that my plan B would not finally happen.

    The intensity is also due to the precarious context, which requires good adaptation skills and even to be able to forget oneself, being the only person from Occident in remote locations where nobody speaks English.

    No doubt this has been the most authentic experience of all my stays in Nepal: in a warm atmosphere, waiting for them to boil water to be able to drink, eating only dal bat and forgetting about the possibility of choosing something else, but being aware of how lucky you are because you can have that at least every day, having a shower in the open air inside an uncomfortable sac called petit-cot and sharing rooms, even sometimes the bed, with people and bugs. Upon my return I had to look up the word privacy in the dictionary: it had become an obsolete word during this stay.

    They told me at the beginning that I was going to live like a Nepalese, but this was not possible, because my skin colour, together with the local hospitality, granted me always a privileged position, although my role would result uncomfortable to some villagers (men and shamans). I always enjoyed the biggest bed, the softest pillow, many times I did not have to wait in line for washing myself in the fountain, and any request I may voice aloud became matter and obligation for all the community.

    Not forgetting that I had some little angels with me: Hiukala, Kamala, Goma and Basanti, trainers and mentors of be artsly who during my stay watched over me.

    A truly unforgettable experience that strikes a cord in you: I travelled to know some villages and their cultural customs, and I ended up knowing myself much better.

    Dhanyabad!

    Written, and © photos, by Eleonora Bordogni, translated by Tere Salinero

    West Nepal girls need this kind of program. And we need help to continue the project!

    Paypal recurring donations:

    Select a Donation Option (EUR)

    Enter Donation Amount (EUR)

    Or if you feel like it, you can donate via bank transfer at: Banc Sabadell IBAN: ES23 0081 0900 8200 0430 1934 BIC: BSABESBB (your recurring donation will help us have a better planning of our budget to carry out the projects undertaken).

    Or take a look to others ways to donate at http://beartsy.org/get-involved-with-rato-baltin/   or https://beartsy.org/become-an-associate/
    Thank You! 🙂

  • Testimonial for MHDay –Menstrual Hygiene Day– Walk

    Testimonial for MHDay –Menstrual Hygiene Day– Walk

    My name is Shruti, I live in Columbia, Missouri, United States. At my school we did not have free feminine products for school. So I worked with some administrators to provide free products district wide at the high schools in the bathrooms.

    It is a completely student-run initiative. Afterwards, while researching how others are impacted by this problem, a friend of mine (Olivia DeClue) found the Rato Baltin project. It was horrifying to read and learn about how girls our age go through so much more.

    We decided that if we inform more people about the problem, then maybe we can help raise funds. We started a charity walk in order to bring friends together and raise money for Rato Baltin. That’s how MHDay Walk began.

    #Menstrual Hygiene Day 2019

    We registered under the international MHDay organisation and are so proud of how far wave come. We raised over $1000 dollars, which is incredible considering it was a first time event regarding a generally taboo subject led by high scholar. Thank you so much also for Ms. Clara for continuously supporting us!

    Written by Shruti G. and friends, at MHDay Walk Como

    West Nepal girls need this kind of program. And we need help to continue the project!

    Paypal recurring donations:

    Select a Donation Option (EUR)

    Enter Donation Amount (EUR)

    Or if you feel like it, you can donate via bank transfer at: Banc Sabadell IBAN: ES23 0081 0900 8200 0430 1934 BIC: BSABESBB (your recurring donation will help us have a better planning of our budget to carry out the projects undertaken).

    Or take a look to others ways to donate at http://beartsy.org/get-involved-with-rato-baltin/   or https://beartsy.org/become-an-associate/
    Thank You! 🙂

  • Achham: Training for the trainers and mentors for the 2019 workshops

    Achham: Training for the trainers and mentors for the 2019 workshops

    We finally made our first trip to Achham. This year the team is huge. We are in Sanphebagar and we have 10 days of training for the trainers and mentors who will be providing workshops in schools in Achham this year.

    Our great 2019 team:

    · 5 foreign volunteers: Maisie, Anne, Claudia (nurse) Eleonora (anthropology student), and Beatriz (menstrual therapist)
    · 2 project coordinators in Achham: Tejana, and Manisha
    · 6 trainers: Hiunkala, Ganga, Dambara, Juna, Rohina, and Basanti
    · 12 mentors: Tulsi, Manisha, Sangita, Lalita, Kamala, Goma, Bhagwati, Nita, Urmila, Rabina, Janaki, and Krishna
    · 1 photographer: Uma
    · 2 interns: Raunika, and Rupa (CEO assistent)
    · CEO of the project: Clara

    The buckets arrived two days later than expected and the menstrual cups also arrived late, but that’s how Nepal is. Luckily, everything arrived. We took advantage of the delay to prepare the routines and processes.

    It is very important that the trainers know exactly what they will be teaching. However, they have not been to the school and have not done the workshops. It is for this reason that we have the mentors. The mentors are girls between the ages of 16 and 18 who attended the workshops in previous years in Mangalsen. They assist the trainers and are a great help.

    On the third day, we met with the mentors and trainers in a small room at the hotel where we were staying. We went over what we will do during the first day of the workshops. We will present the project and play a game to help us bond. We will then discuss puberty, anatomy, and the menstrual cycle. We watched the film Monthlies, and taught the trainers how to use the projectors.

    The next day, we went over what we would be doing on the second day of the workshops. We practiced the meditation we will do with the boys. The trainers practiced with us to gain confidence and it went very well. While the boys meditate outside, the girls will stay in class and write what they like and don’t like about menstruating. We will use this information to make a problem/solution tree. The mentors already know how to do this and will teach the trainers.

    We continue with sex education, working as openly as possible because we know that the students at school are very curious and it is important that the trainers and mentors are prepared to respond to all types of questions. We also use questions from other years like, “How does a woman masturbate?”

    We talk about sexually transmitted diseases and methods of contraception, putting emphasis on the use of condoms because in this area the HIV rate is very high. When we explain how to put condoms on, it creates a lot of laughter and helps everyone to relax.

    We also talk about sex, gender, and sexual orientation, which is a taboo topic in Nepal. It took us a day longer than expected to finish the syllabus. We spent a lot of time planning the 6 days of the workshop. We went into detail about the menstrual cycle, the changes that come with it, and the tools we can use to keep track of it. We also discussed menstrual hygiene, menstrual products, pain management, and the importance of nutrition during the menstrual cycle.

    We discussed the topic of photography with Uma, who taught the trainers so that they can later explain it to the girls at the schools.

    We also taught them about the menstrual cup: what it is, how it works, and how to explain it easily.

    Two guests from the Possible Health (a local NGO in the hospital) in Sanphebagar came to train the team in stress control and first aid. It will be the first time that some of these girls spend so much time away from home and it is important that they feel well.

    On the seventh day, the trainers explained part of the syllabus so that we could go over it together and see what needed to be corrected. In the afternoon, Anne, with the help of Rupa and Raunika as translators, explained how to use the tablet. We all helped each other learn.

    To help the team feel more confident, we went to practice at a school. The second day we practiced, everyone was less nervous and it went better. The trainers are getting more confident.

    On the day that we had to leave, there were not any jeeps for us to take, so we took advantage of the extra time to go over the use of Kotolbox, the application that allows us to digitalize the data. The mentors upload the data so that it is in the cloud and can be used.

    The last day we bought brownies for the team 🙂, there are brownies in Saphebagar!

    There is still a lot of work left. We still have to go to the villages and teach workshops using the information learned during the training days, but we know that everything we do is important for these women.

     

    Written by Beatriz San Roman and Clara Alberta Pinilla
Photos by Clara Garcia Ortés. Translation by Maisei Still and Shae Citte

    West Nepal girls need this kind of program. And we need help to continue the project!

    Paypal recurring donations:

    Select a Donation Option (EUR)

    Enter Donation Amount (EUR)

    Or if you feel like it, you can donate via bank transfer at: Banc Sabadell IBAN: ES23 0081 0900 8200 0430 1934 BIC: BSABESBB (your recurring donation will help us have a better planning of our budget to carry out the projects undertaken).

    Or take a look to others ways to donate at http://beartsy.org/get-involved-with-rato-baltin/   or https://beartsy.org/become-an-associate/
    Thank You! 🙂

  • Travel Log – From 2073 to 2075. Again teaching in Basti

    Travel Log – From 2073 to 2075. Again teaching in Basti

    After Kunti Bandali, we went to Basti. This was Clara’s third time there. She explained to the team that going down is complicated, but that once you are there you don’t want to leave… It’s like another world. It’s a really remote (and hot) place, where life is hard but people are authentic and lovely.

    Some of the volunteers had problems on the way down like Clara had predicated, but once they reached the people, they fell in love with them. The day we left, some village girls were really sad because we were going, as well as some volunteers. The rest told the girls, “see you in September!” 🙂

    In Basti, we taught classes 6 and 7. We did the menstrual cup training to more than 20 new school girls, and 9 young women not in the school. It was a pity to see girls so young that had left school, in the best case, in class 5. When you ask them why they left, they usually answer: “Too much work to do, didi…”.

    In September we will do the follow up to these two villages (Basti and Kunti), with the rest of the villages we are teaching during the spring. We are planning to go with a big screen and projector and show some films to empower the girls, and do some playful programs for all the community. That way they can all enjoy our visit, and we can again speak in a different way about women’s rights and menstruation. We are planning a collaboration with Photo.circle for that.

    Let’s see how everything comes, but we have big expectations for this year and next years project! 🙂

    And now: Oligaun!

     

    Written, and photographs with Fujifilm XT20, © by Clara Go.
Correction by Kristy Davies

    Now you can contribute for paying one month salary to the nurse, or for some hygiene kit : https://www.gofundme.com/menstrual-cups-in-nepal-chhaupadi

    West Nepal girls need this kind of program. And we need help to continue the project!

    Or if you feel like it, you can donate via bank transfer at: Banc Sabadell IBAN: ES23 0081 0900 8200 0430 1934 BIC: BSABESBB (your recurring donation will help us have a better planning of our budget to carry out the projects undertaken).

    Or take a look to others ways to donate at http://beartsy.org/donate/

    Thank You! 🙂

  • Empowering Women and Girls through MHM: Menstrual Hygiene Awareness Day

    Empowering Women and Girls through MHM: Menstrual Hygiene Awareness Day

    For many of the global population of women and girls, menstruation is time of stress and shame. Some women and girls not only have limited access to and knowledge of clean menstrual management resources and safe, private spaces to dispose of materials, but they consider both themselves and menstruation itself as dirty and shameful.

    To combat these realities and raise awareness of the challenge of menstrual health management (MHM), the 28th of May 2018 marks the fourth international Day of Menstrual Hygiene Awareness. The day was designed as a platform for the voices of individuals, organisations, businesses and the media to unite and break the silence around MHM issues faced by women and girls around the world.

    For many girls, this culture of shame combined with a lack of access to adequate resources and MHM knowledge results in issues of self-confidence and school absenteeism. Ensuring girls stay in school and fully engage in the learning process with confidence is critical to the empowerment focus within the sustainable development goals. When girls go to school and engage in the learning process, they are empowered to reach their full potential.

    In villages across Far-West Nepal where the practice of chhaupadi is still prevalent, MHM practices and the empowerment of women and girls is an important issue of focus. Chhaupadi is a deeply entrenched social practice where women and girls are considering impure during menstruation and are subject to a number of prohibitions which deprive them of their most basic needs.

    These prohibitions include being forbidden from touching food others will consume, crossing water, restricted school attendance, and entering the family home, requiring women and girls to sleep in cattle sheds or makeshift huts. Those subject to the practice risk exposure to rape, snakebites, smoke inhalation, and animal attacks. Furthermore, the restriction of girls from school during menstruation is harmful to their education. Poor MHM tools and knowledge is linked to low education outcomes, as well as broader negative effects to employment, health and overall development.

    Although the Government of Nepal declared chhaupadi illegal, the practice is deeply embedded in social norms and cultural practices. The aim of grassroots social organisations like be artsy is to empower girls in Far-West Nepal through MHM community education, and the provision of menstrual cups and hygiene kits. Ruby Cup is the donor of menstrual cups to be artsy, that also have some individual and other private donors. This approach is designed to reduce school absenteeism, improve girls’ self-confidence, and reduce the prevalence and negative impact of chhaupadi through increased knowledge of menstruation amongst communities.

    It is important that days like today exist to shine a light on the work that organisations do to enable women and girls’ empowerment through MHM education, as well as highlight what there is still left to accomplish. It is with global support and awareness combined with grassroots local engagement that true change will be achieved to the benefit of women and girls across the globe.

    We would like to remind you of the different ways to continue collaborating with us:

    Written by Kristy Davies.
  • 2017- Rato Baltin Pilot Project Impact Evaluation

    2017- Rato Baltin Pilot Project Impact Evaluation

    We hope 2018 has begun with joy and harmony.
    The whole be artsy team has started the year with great enthusiasm, as we have been working hard over the last few months to analyze the data collected during our last trip to assess the impact of the 2017 Rato Baltin project. We have been encouraged by what we have found, and are more committed now than ever in the fight against chhaupadi using sexual education, participatory photography and menstrual cups.

    2017 was a great success!
    You can read about it here:

    Project Impact Evaluation rato baltin 2017 be artsy ngo nepal

     

    DESCRIPTION

    In West Nepal, the lack of safe sanitary options often results in health problems and school absenteeism. Menstruation is a topic touched by embarrassment, insecurity, and degrading traditions for women like chhaupadi.

    Chhaupadi is characterised by the banishment of women during menstruation from their usual residence, due to supposed ‘impurity’. It has been criticised for violating the basic human rights of women, and for associated physical and mental health impacts. Despite having been outlawed and criminalised, it continues to exist.

    The Rato Baltin Project run by the NGO be artsy is a Menstrual Health Management (MHM) and sexual education program that aims to eradicate this practice. The Project includes girls, boys, women and their communities in its design.Atb eartsy ,webelievethateducationistheonlywaytochangethesedeeplyheldbeliefs.

    The project has a four-tiered approach:

    1. Workshop which provide sex education to both male and female teenagers in local schools of targeted communities
    2. Hygienic education delivered through workshops to all women in targeted communities
    3. Menstrual cups and training provided to volunteer girls attending school in targeted communities
    4. Participatory photography workshops utilised to showcase how girls and women feel about chhaupadi and their periods, and what they would like to change about the experience

    An important component of the Rato Baltin project is the distribution of a healthy and environmentally friendly solution to MHM in rural areas of Nepal: menstrual cups. Ruby Cup, a UK based company, are the manufacturers and donors of this life changing, medical grade silicone menstrual cup of the same name.

    Twice a year, we visit remote villages to distribute menstrual cups and conduct hygiene and sexual education training. We also revisit villages to check in on those who have already received training and a cup to see what (if anything) has changed, and evaluate the results of the program.

    We have already distributed more than 250 menstrual cups to school girls in remote villages. Each girl received a cup and training in how to use it. They are also given a metal bucket (baltin) to prepare clean water, and have somewhere to boil the cup.

    Intended use of the evaluation

    The intended use of the Rato Baltin project evaluation is to measure any changes in the lives of individual participants and communities targeted in the program, and assist in reaching new project donors for be artsy to achieve its aims in::

    • ●  Educating women, girls, boys and communities on sex, biology and HMH practices
    • ●  Reducing school absenteeism of girls in targeted remote communities of West Nepal
    • ●  Providing girls and women with tools to facilitate menstrual dignity
    • ●  Achieving long term project sustainability of the programFocus of the evaluationThe principal focus of the evaluation is to address the question of:

    – What changes have occurred around the practice of chhaupadi in the lives of girls and communities after the implementation our program?

    To ensure the program is based on best practice methodology and lessons learnt, the evaluation also aims to address the questions of:

    1. How culturally accepted and sustained is the use of menstrual cups in the targeted remote communities of West Nepal?
    2. What (if any) aspects of our program can be improved in design and/or implementation?

    Data sources and methodology

    Throughout the 2017 project implementation period, we have conducted monthly telephone follow-up calls with the volunteer menstrual cup users, as well as participating volunteer local teachers and nurses.

    The be artsy Staff Nurse and volunteers have travelled to the targeted communities twice in 2017 to conduct face-to-face follow-up with the girls, in order to measure how implementation of the cup is progressing. During these trips, girls have completed surveys about changes they have experiences around chhaupadi since our first visit, and initial use of the ruby cup. Informal conversations with community members were also used to discern impressions of the use of menstrual cups and the impact of workshop training and education.

    Girls that participated in the survey are users of the donated menstrual cups. However, our program has delivered workshop training and education to more than 1000 people since its commencement, in 4 villages: Basti, Kunti Bandali, Rachuli and Chilkhaya.

    The results

    CHHAUPADI:

    Only 9 girls reported no change in their experience of the chhaupadi tradition after our program. The rest of the Ruby Cup users experienced some changes.

    Some girls reported changes concerned access to food. Indeed, some girls reported they are now allowed to eat vegetables, some can eat fruits, and some can drink milk. A number of girls reported that after participating in our workshops, their mothers allowed them to have a warm blanket in the chhaugot (Hut), while some reported that they now sleep inside the house but in a separate room or space to other members of their family. A few girls reported that since the workshop trainings they are no longer required to participate in the exclusionary practices of chhaupadi, including being able to cook food.

    Girls communicated that because they no longer bleed outside of the body when using the cup, everything is

    cleaner, and both their families and themselves feel more self-confident. They attend school during their cycle, reducing their absenteeism, and actively try to help other girls in things related with menstruation.

    Girls that did not report changes related to chhaupadi have seen their lives improve in other areas:

    “ For me it is a positive experience. In my life this has brought some changes. My blood is not smelly also it is not bleeding out. And going to school is also easy with the cup.” ~ Bhawana Upadhya (Chilkhaya)

    MENSTRUAL CUPS:

    Of the 111 cups distributed between March and June 2017 to school girls in Achcham and Kalikot, 8 were confirmed as non-users. We were unable to personally contact 14 girls, but on their last follow-up call over the phone they reported they were still using their cups. A minimum of 2 of these girls have been married and now reside in India.

    “I am happy that i got the opportunity to use the ruby cup.” ~ Binda B.K. (Rachuli)

    REASONS FOR USING THE CUP:

    • –  No fear of staining clothes
    • –  No feeling that they are menstruating
    • –  They do not have to worry about drying rags
    • –  They do not feel self-conscious of having a bad smell
    • –  It is easier to attend school as they do not need to carry any pads or replacement materials, nor hide anyrubbish
    • –  Nobody knows they are menstruating, so they can engage in regular activities such as touching tapwater
    • –  They feel cleaner than when using traditional methodsREASONS FOR NOT USING THE CUP:
    • –  They are pregnant, but after the baby’s birth they want to begin using it again
    • –  Some reported slight pain/feelings of discomfort
    • –  Having lost it
    • –  Superstitions at home:

    ▪ The house of one of the girls collapsed; a chaman told the family it was due to a bad spirit, and the family was not allowed to reenter. They were forced to leave the house, and in turn left the village. The cup user could not go inside to take their cup. When her family left she had already been married to someone in the village and now resides there. She asked us to provide her with another cup, which we did. She will continue going to school until she finishes grade 10.

    EMERGENT MYTHS:

    • –  A mother from Kunti Bandali communicated that she believes the cup will prevent girls from being raped during their menstruation, both when they are in the chhaugot and when they have to go into the jungle alone
    • –  In Basti, some people were telling users not to use the cup because it might cause cancer when it is inside themWhat the girls think about our program:All girls feel more comfortable with their bodies after our workshop. They understand the biological processes and reasoning for what is happening, and many feel that they are now able to help other girls understand.

      Most of the girls considered their participation in the program to have been a positive experience, and that their lives have changed for the better in using the cup.

      In response to the question of “What would you change about Rato Baltin?”, most girls communicated that they would not change anything. Girls also rated the workshops on a scale of 0 – 10, with 0 being bad and 10 being excellent. Respondents rated the workshops with an average score of 9.

      BUDGET EVALUATION

    Description

    Pr evist Cost

    Total Cost

    Salaries – Local staff

    Rs 243.000,00

    Rs 269.280

    Supplies and workshop resources

    Rs 121.280,00

    Rs 184.967

    Utilities

    Rs 180.000,00

    Rs 299.092

    Transportation

    Rs 227.436,00

    Rs 288.741

    Total NPR

    Rs 771.716,00

    Rs 1.042.080

    Total Euro

    6.710,57 €

    9061,56 €

    General expenses – 10% of total Euro

    671,06 €

    906,15 €

    Grand Total

    7.381,63 €

    9967,71 €

    Exchange Rate: 1 Euro = 115 NPR (Rs)

    The 2017 budget exceeded the initial proposed expenditure by 2,586 Euros. This was the case for several reasons:1.b eartsy receivedanunexpectednewdonationof160menstrualcupsfromRubyCups

    2. This donation led to the doubling of the expected amount of work and needed complementary resources, particularly in terms of the menstrual kits

    3. Difficulty in finding volunteers to travel to West Nepal without financial compensation

    4.TheneedtoprovideKathmandu-basedvolunteerswithfundsfortravelandfoodrelatedto beartsya ctivities

    5. Difficulty in contracting a staff nurse for only three to four months of the year requiring higher than expected remuneration

    Great care was taken to adjust the budget and account for the increase in work and resources required by the unexpected donation, but a substantial increase was unavoidable to deliver the new cups.

    Discussion and plan for the future

    The results of the evaluation lead us to the conclusion that project is working well. Findings from the survey reveal our initial idea that the cups can break the taboos surrounding menstruation and chhaupadi was correct. However, our evaluation of the program also illustrates a need to implement some changes in the future.

    We have seen the need to design a workshop component aimed at the men in targeted communities, in order to holistically disseminate MHM knowledge and education. We will pursue the design of a men’s group workshop to be delivered in 2018.

    To see the full scope of the impact of the project among non-Ruby Cup users in communities, we will design a survey for all girls in participating schools, as well as the participants of the women’s group. This will be implemented in 2018.

    be artsy is also aware of a large gap in the delivery of the program. The menstrual cups donated by Ruby Cup are to be disseminated among girls that attend school, as a way of addressing absenteeism and MHM. However, not every girl in targeted communities are able to attend school. For instance, some girls are married, must stay at home to assist their families with housework, or tend to family owned fields. be artsy will work to make the program and provision of menstrual cups more inclusive of all girls and their contexts. be artsy is considering implementing a chhaupadi and menstrual cup education program on college and university campuses to raise awareness of this issue, and fundraise for this component of the 2018 project. This will require the hiring of one or two persons for the entirety of 2018 to successful and sustainably implement.

    We experienced problems working with our Nepali partner organisation, the Starts Foundation, throughout every stage of the 2017 Pilot Project. These difficulties in communication and delivery of agreed human and material resources rendered the implementation and evaluation phases difficult. Although the 2017 Pilot Project was successful thanks to the hard work of be artsy volunteers and President Clara Garcia Ortes, present in Nepal for 11 months of the year, it is necessary to consider other options to ensure effectiveness and accountability.

    We have been working to establish a strong volunteer team assembled under the banner of a new Nepali NGO. This new Nepali NGO will be named: be artsy Kalaa Shakti Nepal (be artsy, the power of art).

    In conclusion, in August of 2017, the Government of Nepal passed a law that punishes those forcing women to adhere to chhaupadi-mandated exile while menstruating with a fine of 3,000 Nepalese rupees or three months jail-time. Yet we believe that these advances will not have a significant impact on its prevalence. The practice of chhaupadi is strongly embedded in social norms and cultural practices. However, it is a significant step forward in the right direction on the political level, and represents a developing social change in opinion. Combined with programs such as Rato Baltin that address education on the local grassroots level in remote areas where the practice is still prevalent, we believe that there is significant potential for change into the future.

    🙂
    Thank you very much for being with us, we will soon send you exciting news about the 2018 Rato Baltin project.

    —
    The team of be artsy’s volunteers .
    Clara Go

    Now you can contribute for paying one month salary to the nurse, or for some hygiene kits easily from : https://www.gofundme.com/menstrual-cups-in-nepal-chhaupadi

    Or If you feel like it, you can Donate:

    Banc Sabadell
    IBAN: ES23 0081 0900 8200 0430 1934
    BIC: BSABESBB

    NepalYou can follow us on  Facebook or Twitter.
    Thank you for making this possible!

    Written by kristy Davies and Clara Go.
  • Travel log – Preparation of the follow-up trip: holidays do not exist…

    Travel log – Preparation of the follow-up trip: holidays do not exist…

    By the end of June, after our trip back from Kalikot, I was impatient, for September to arrive and go back to Achham and Kalikot to check on the results.

    Each time we return to the villages, the accumulated tiredness there, and all the things I have seen and experienced do take their toll. Many times I feel depressed because I can’t do more, physically exhausted and thinking in all the work that still remains to be done.

    This time, I decided that I would take 10 or 15 days to lay back. That afterwards I would write and prepare the pictures and that I would have a quiet month of August, a quasi-holidays period. To remain at home, at rest during the rainy season. I rented a room in a guesthouse (a cheap one) in Patan, as I wanted to try if I would like to live in that area, full of expats and maybe with more connections and means for the NGO, and in my first night there I called a friend from the Putali Nepal NGO and fixed with her going to a concert, where we talked about work and our trip all the time! 🙂

    But, from the following day, yes: about ten days doing “practically” nothing. Then we start doing the follow-up of the girls via the telephone, and with the little money we had I started preparing the trip for September. Susmila, our first nurse, recovered from her surgery, was ready to come with me to Achham and Kalikot and that was the plan. To go both of us by ourselves just to do the follow-up. I wrote to Ruby Cup to tell them how things had been. I told them that we had a waiting list of 140 girls and they offered a new donation of 160 units. I jumped for joy! The girls would have their cups this year! I had told them that I could not promise anything, but that we would try to have them for spring and it happens that we would have them way before! Great!

    Ah! But wait… my happiness was short-lasted: 160 cups, that would be 160 buckets, and soaps and towels and more people to carry all… My quiet August had just gone up in smoke! Now to get money to buy all the materials! Furthermore, as if we didn’t have enough to do, we decided to buy cups to Ruby Cup to sell them here. That way we could offer here the promotion “Buy one and we will donate one for free to a girl in need”.

    The idea is to be able to give cups to those girls of 13, 14, 15, 18 years, who can’t go to school because they are too poor to pay the 300 rupee that cost the school every month, or because they were pushed to marry or they have children.

    So the whole of August and the most part of September was even more stressful than the first phase, but with the selling of cups we made contacts, we met wonderful people and we have big hopes.

    Nothing comes for free in this life, it is needed to fight hard to get anything and that’s what we did, and what we are doing. Working hard to be able to improve the quality of life of those girls who suffer the terrible tradition of the Chhaupadi, and little by little to create awareness about in those remote places in West Nepal.

    Thus arrived the 22nd of September and we went out charged with buckets, cups and materials, towards West Nepal, this time with an expedition fully made up of women! 🙂

    We will be back soon with more!

    Written, and photos with Fujifilm XT20, © by Clara Go.

     

     

    Now you can contribute for paying one month salary to the nurse, or for some hygiene kit : https://www.gofundme.com/menstrual-cups-in-nepal-chhaupadi

    Written by Clara Go. Translation by Tere Salinero

    West Nepal girls need this kind of program. And we need help to continue the project!

    Or if you feel like it, you can donate via bank transfer at: Banc Sabadell IBAN: ES23 0081 0900 8200 0430 1934 BIC: BSABESBB (your recurring donation will help us have a better planning of our budget to carry out the projects undertaken).

    Or take a look others ways to donate at http://beartsy.org/donate/

    Thank You! 🙂

     

  • Travel log – Women’s group in Chilkhaya

    Travel log – Women’s group in Chilkhaya

    21-8-17. Because in as Rachuli we couldn’t work  with the  group of women, here, in chilkhaya I didn’t accepted a no as answer, and i propose to do it,  even if it was only for 2 days and  at the the time that they wanted, and they accepted.

    It was not very numerous, because it was a really work time for women, it was the rise planting moment,  but it was very interesting, we were talking about measures of menstrual health and we were astonished to see the hight number of girls of 14, 15, 16 years that came to this group, ie, they were not in school.

    Just as in Rachuli we realized the need to make a group of men the next time we go to teach the full progra, (from April) Here we realized the need to get menstrual cups for these girls not schooled

    It is very hard to see that because parents do not have money to continue studying and/or they got married, they are not entitled to the same sexual hygiene as the others. They sleep in the stables of the cows like the others, they do not have access to the water like the others …. there is no right that we give menstrual cups to the girls who are lucky to study, and to those who do not have this luck, the we punished without a cup. Remember that the donations we got from ruby cup are only for school girls, to keep girls in school.

    And It is for this reason that we have launched a new part of the project. We want to get “extra” money to give these women menstrual cups, too.

    We are selling menstrual cups in Kathmandu for next year to be able to distribute menstrual cups among the youngest girls in the women’s group, and besides, we have already launched a crowdfunding so that whoever wants to collaborate in the continuity of the project can do it already and whenever they want .

    Thank you! 🙂

    Written, and photos with Fujifilm XT20, © by Clara Go. Correction by Phumzile Mpofu

    West Nepal girls need this kind of program. And we need help to continue the project!

    Now you can contribute for paying one month salary to the nurse, or for some hygiene kit : https://www.gofundme.com/menstrual-cups-in-nepal-chhaupadi

    Or if you feel like it, you can donate via bank transfer at: Banc Sabadell IBAN: ES23 0081 0900 8200 0430 1934 BIC: BSABESBB (your recurring donation will help us have a better planning of our budget to carry out the projects undertaken).

    Or take a look others ways to donate at http://beartsy.org/donate/

    Thank You! 🙂