by NILIMA RAUT with SHUBHI TANDON
Nepali girl and brother in western Chitwan district. PHOTO/Symmetry_mind/Flickr
The centuries old practice of chhaupadi in Nepal can cause prolonged depression in girls and women. In extreme cases it can also cause death.
Chhaupadi pratha, or ritual practice, places Nepali women and girls in a limbo of isolation. In history it is a practice that has been largely accepted. The word chhaupadi, translates in the Achham local Raute dialect as ‘chhau’ which means menstruation and ‘padi’ – woman.
Today the ritual of banishment surrounding chhaupadi still affects girls and women on all levels of Nepali society.
This dangerous practice also isolates woman during and after childbirth as they are banished for up to eleven days away from family members, causing critical danger and increasing complications that can, and do, lead to maternal and child mortality due to the possibility of excessive bleeding and asepsis following labour.
A chhaupadi shed or hut, also called chhaupadi goth, is a rudimentary stone, grass or stick shelter. Most shelters, many which are also commonly used as cow or goat sheds, have dirt floors and no windows. Many sheds have no water. Habitation by humans in these sheds can create dangerous situations as structures can reach below freezing temperatures in the winter and sweltering temperatures in the summer.
The January 2010 death of forty year old Belu Damai is a case in point. Damai was found dead on January 3rd in a chhaupadi (menstrual) shed in Bhairabsthan (VDC-8) in Nepal’s remote western district of Achham.
“They packed some of my dresses and told my dad to go out of (the) house so that I couldn’t see him. I went with our house maid to her home which was approximately 1 ½ hours away. While there, I was given a dark room with no sunlight and given one plate and glass to use for eating”. – Nilima Raut
“I noticed changes occurring in my body and this was a very weird experience for me”, says WNN correspondent in Kathmandu, Nilima Raut.“Back then, our culture didn’t allow us to talk freely about physical bodily changes, or reproductive or sexual health; even now, the custom remains in my country. . . It was shameful for me to ask my parents about these physical changes and even my mom never told me exactly what would happen in my body as I matured”.
Women News Network for more