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  • 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.
  • Travel Log – From 2073 to 2075, again teaching in Kunti Bandali

    Travel Log – From 2073 to 2075, again teaching in Kunti Bandali

    After Janalibandali we travelled to Kunti Bandali, where nothing was really new. We were only there teaching for four days. The first time we came here we taught two classes at the end of 2073 (it is now the beginning of 2075).

    This time we taught classes 6 and 7, as well as a school girls group, menstrual cup training, and a young women’s group.

    The school in Kunti was (as usual) strict with or timetables and their students. In this school discipline is an everyday thing. There were three periods every day, and we had to finish on time. Something really complicated, sometimes…

    The school had finished its new building we had seen growing over our last two visits, and they now had a clean, beautiful library and hall.

    The young women’s group was really interesting, made up of young women that were not attending the school. We think the menstrual cups we buy to give to women outside of the school could get good use here. The only thing we are not happy with is that they could only join us for one day because of work, and we are quite sure that the follow up will be more complicated that usual. But both Jamuna, a nurse, and the nurse in town, took responsibility of following up on time after our phone calls.

    We completed the follow up with old users from Dashain in Jamuna’s house, which we also used to eat, sleep, and boil menstrual cups.

    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! 🙂

  • Our second week in Janalibandali was quieter than the first

    Our second week in Janalibandali was quieter than the first

    On Sunday we trained the women’s group how to use the menstrual cup. Many young married girls came to the training, but not with the profile we really wanted to target: poor girls that could not go to school because of poverty or being married.

    There are two reasons why this group may not have attended: 1 – The news did not reach them, or 2 – In this part of Achham, full of high caste people, women’s conditions are better than in other parts where we have worked.

    We had a lot of girls in the group that were studying in years 11 and 12 in Mangalsen, who were also given the menstrual cup and kit. This week, we taught years 6, 7 and 8 as well.

    On the last day, we held the photo exhibition and showed a small video with the photos the girls have produced about their menstruation over the last two weeks during the participative photography workshops. There were photos from different areas of everyday life:

     

    • Food and Menstruation
    • First Menstruation
    • Friendship and Menstruation
    • School and Menstruation
    • Restrictions
    • Cleanliness and Menstruation
    • Family help
    • One day in the life of a Menstruating women
    • Babies and Menstruation
    • Clothes and Menstruation

     

    After the photos, we showed a video about chhaupadi and encouraged girls and boys to talk with their families to try and stop the practice or at least create safer conditions.

    While the local authorities in Janalibandali have helped us a lot, they had been really worried about the message we might tell the world about the practice in this part of Accham. But at all times we told them that we would explain the reality we have seen: they expend a lot of effort to end the practice of chhaupadi, and a lot of girls just sleep in separate rooms inside of the house.

    But we have spoke to women as well as seen ourselves that many will sleep outside until the older generations within their families have passed away. We have also seen cruelties, like a girl sleeping in a “bamboo basket”.

    In Janalibandali, there are less instances of chhaupadi than in other more remote places that we have been working, but we hope that the local leaders and authorities will continue to work on the issue until no girl sleeps outside their homes while menstruating.

    For now, we did the only thing we can do: provide education and menstrual cups, to dignify their periods of menstruation overall lives.

    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 others ways to donate at http://beartsy.org/donate/

    Thank You! 🙂

  • Travel log: First week in Janalibandali (Mangalsen 6, Achham)

    Travel log: First week in Janalibandali (Mangalsen 6, Achham)

    The first week in Janalibandali has been very intense, even too much. On arrival, we had several meetings with local liders, the nurse and the teachers.

    On Saturday they organized traditional dances and music, the lyrics of which was (like in Basti) absolutely against the Chhaupadi. We have been making groups of boys and girls from grades 10 to 8, next week we will continue with 7 and 6.

    We have around 70 in the girls group. Quite difficult to work as a team as we wanted to do this time, with the pictures. The day was somewhat chaotic, we made the groups, but the rest was very interesting. From the beginning, we noticed that the tradition, here, has started to change, they agree that is not ok (we are near the area where several deaths have happened). They explain to us that since the last three years there has been a big change, but no girl enters the kitchens… and we have discovered girls sleeping in baskets or in the open.

    We have made the biggest training ever of menstrual cups until now. 45 girls in the same class!

    We made the women group and more than 160 came up (they asked us for money for coming to the classes… as they are used to receive it from the large NGOs…). We told them no. It was a chaos, we were not expecting so many people, we did not have an appropriate place to teach them and in the end we did it in the street. Impossible to pass the videos as we lacked the necessary projector and the sound quality for such an amount of people. Whilst all of us were very happy with the girls group, none of us is with the women group.

    We were expecting around 20 or 25 for the second day, as we said that only the young girls would have a menstrual cup, and in the end (late, as usual) half the ones from the previous day appeared. Quite hectic, too.

    We have 27 cups for girls out from school and young women. The idea was having them paying 50 rupees as first choice, because if they are for free, everybody wants them. In the end, from the 160 women from the first day, of the age we had requested, there were around 35. Many tried to lie dropping down years 🙂 , but that is difficult in this area: at 34 they look like 50. Their life is very hard in this area.

    We wanted to make the training on Friday the 27th but a big storm made us leave it for the following week.

    The poor nurses are hoarse. We have requested a microphone and a loudspeaker like the one for tourist guides, to see if that way they can lower the voice. It is lear that in this area of Mangalsen the groups are very big, so we have to prepare ourselves for the areas of Oligau and Kalagaun. We have asked our “mentors” from Basti, Sunita Damai and Tejana Khanal, that they come with us as “paid volunteers” for the remaining month and a half. They have accepted gladly.

    It would be great to bring with us some local girls that have been using the menstrual cup for over a year!

    Written and photographs, with Fujifilm XT20, © by Clara Go.
Translation by Tere Salinero

    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 others ways to donate at http://beartsy.org/donate/

    Thank You! 🙂

  • 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! 🙂

  • Travel log – Group of girls and Ruby cup training in Chilkhaya (Kalikot)

    Travel log – Group of girls and Ruby cup training in Chilkhaya (Kalikot)

    If at all anywhere, we had a list of girls who wanted menstrual cups, from way back, it has been in Chilkhaya.
    As we explained in the last article, the classes were a minimum of 70 participants, the majority of these being girls. In this case though, each day we had a minimum of 100 participants. We were never able to write down all the participants in the register, as they was never enough time in the one hour.

    In this village, we clearly saw, more than in any other place, the great power of the high castes above those considered to be of the lower castes. Girls from the higher castes were always at the top of the lists, while the lower caste girls, would not approach until the higher caste group was finished.

    The raffle system was absolutely necessary and we chose the class with the most boys to do it. The boys were pulling out numbers not knowing who or what they were choosing. Luck made few girls of that class have a menstrual cup, but at least they saw that the system was totally clear, and they are on the waiting list.

    The training was held at the health post, where we were able to boil the Menstrual Cups easily as they was gas to use. Anuja, the nurse, thanked it, in Rachuli had a really bad time with the smoke!

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

    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 others ways to donate at http://beartsy.org/donate/

    Thank You! 🙂

     

  • Travel log – #RatoBaltin at the Chilkhaya school

    Travel log – #RatoBaltin at the Chilkhaya school

    20-7-17

    During the 10 days we have been in Chilkhaya, what has surprised us most is the number of students attending the secondary school  (from class 6 to 10).


    We attended classes with 70 students, “luckily” missing 70 or 80 more. That is, the list of students for these classes was up to 140, 150. Yet the classrooms are not big enough to accommodate all of the students if they happen to all attend class together.

    As are came at the rice planting time, many children do not go to school and instead work in the fields.

    Another thing that has surprised us about the school is that it is probably the best organized we have found so far. It looks clean, and it is easy to see that they have organised every detail. The teachers have helped us a lot, even taking notes of our classes so they can continue them when we are not there. I wish all schools were like this.

    One factor that we have not managed to schedule properly is the “extra” time for girls. Some days they ask us to hold the sessions at the school during school hours, but on others they request us to do it in the health post after school.

    However, everything has went very well and everyone was very happy to have us there.

    On our last day we had a nice homage, and received touching farewell speeches.

    They are already waiting for us to return!

    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. Correction by Kristy Davies

    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! 🙂