Upcoming Event: Advocating for Women: Stories from the Field

When: Thursday, September 11, 1pm-3pm EST
Where: Americans for UNFPA blog (www.americansforunfpa.blogspot.com)
What: An interactive online forum, moderated by Rita Henley Jensen of Women’s eNew

RSVP

This summer, three Americans for UNFPA staff members made their first trips to the field to witness the lifesaving work of UNFPA in Madagascar, Mexico and Nepal.

We met with women who exemplify how one woman can make a difference and documented their stories with photoblogs and videos.

On Thursday, September 11, we will feature these stories and our experiences in an interactive online forum moderated by Rita Henley Jensen of Women’s eNews.

Dr. Rabary, Dr. Elu and Ms. Chaudary advocate in support of local women. At Americans for UNFPA we advocate for the U.S. to support their work.

Join us between 1:00 and 3:00 on Thursday as we discuss the health and rights of women globally and what it means to us here in the United States. Ask questions about our trips and the programs we visited, and feel free to offer your own experiences with inspiring women from around the world.

Log on to the forum between 1:00 and 3:00 PM EST on Thursday, September 11.

Condom

Considering I’d never traveled to the developing world before, I adjusted to Ghorahi, Dang, rather quickly. Maybe it was the passage through Delhi and Kathmandu, but the chaotic streets, the mix of humans and animals, the ramshackle homes and scattered trash everywhere came to seem normal to me by my second day in the valley. I could see the parallels to the western world – Ghorahi seemed almost like a small Americans city minus the public services (police, building inspection, trash collection, etc.).

But Wednesday in the mountains was a different story altogether. And whatever appreciation of Aasmani’s programs I had Tuesday night would be dwarfed by my awe on Wednesday. This was when I learned why the people of Dang love her so much.

We drove Wednesday morning out of Ghorahi two hours on winding, narrow, steep, unpaved roads. Up into the mountains that surround Dang valley – and back down into the next little valley, and up again… For someone uncomfortable with heights, it was an edge-of-my-seat trip. All at about 10 mph.

Our destination was the first of two reproductive health-focused women’s meeting groups that existed under the umbrella of Aasmani’s RWDC. I understood going in what these groups would do: they would bring together women from a community to share knowledge about family planning, safe sex, and safe motherhood. They would do so through a combination of visits by UNFPA professionals and through the teachings of deputized local women (who were given basic training in reproductive health by UNFPA). That much wouldn’t surprise me.

What did surprise me, however, was the stunning context of the efforts I encountered that day. The groups met in huts or fields on the sides of mist-covered mountains, completely separated from the outside world. Women came to these meetings from across the mountainside, walking miles on dirt paths and up slopes to gain the knowledge these groups could provide. It was like your Sunday at church combined with a hike up the Appalachian trail. The homes they left had no running water; no sewage, no electricity. Few of these women had been taught to read. Their lives revolved around daily chores not meant to earn money or pay bills – but to produce the very food with which they would sustain themselves.

And yet, on this mountainside removed from the world as you and I know it, this place where everyone stared at me (as the only westerner they’d seen in years, perhaps), I heard the UNFPA nurse quizzing the teenage girls of the group:

Nurse: question in Nepali

Girl, front row: excited, with her hand held high, “Condom”

Nurse: second question in Nepali

Girl, middle row: “Pill”

That, I understood. No translation necessary. Here, against all odds, Aasmani has brought to the far-flung communities of Dang Valley a level of reproductive education that would make most U.S. middle schools blush.

Aasmani, tribune of the people

Nepal is a country in transition, and Aasmani Chaudhary herself is emblematic of that fact. The nation has ousted its King, become a democracy, and is going through a struggle for the control of its Parliament between formerly-rebel Maoists and the traditional ruling party.

In Dang valley, these seismic national changes are not readily apparent – the region has been controlled by the Maoists for years anyway, and its remoteness gives it a certain insulation from tumult. But times are changing anyway, and perhaps for the better, in part because of the Rural Women’s Development Center and its leader, Aasmani.

She began 15 years ago (just as the valley was first being electrified; now roughly 40% of the people have electricity), organizing small groups of Tharu women (the Tharu are the ethnic minority that live in this part of Nepal) to pool their money and save it – empowering them with a level of financial independence Tharu women never had. For years she was resisted by the men in the community, by the local rebel leaders (who didn’t like seeing money that could have gone to finance their revolution spent on sewing machines and farm animals instead), and even by some of the women themselves. But her proof was in the pudding, as they say, and the success of her savings (and now microfinance lending) groups brought about the birth of more groups, such that everywhere we stopped in Dang valley during our visit Aasmani could tell me about the local women’s group there.

And as these women’s groups expanded in number and size, Aasmani saw the need to expand their mission as well. By the time of my trip, she could show me a literacy group teaching girls to read, a landless-peoples group working for the rights of the very poorest Tharu, groups of younger women talking about safe sex and family planning, and groups of mothers talking about how to tell if your pregnancy is encountering problems and you need to see a trained doctor or nurse. All while the microfinance and savings groups continue to empower the women of Dang.

Now, when the local political leaders encounter Aasmani, they know better than to fight her or disparage her work – instead they bow and honor her by way of currying favor with half the population that she understands better than any of them.

Welcome to Dang Valley

I cannot easily describe the extraordinary reception I received upon my arrival in Gorahi, Dang, Nepal. I was there to bestow an honor upon someone else – Aasmani Chaudhary, the inspiring leader of the Rural Women’s Development Center – but the occasion of a visit from an American to this remote part of Nepal (itself a somewhat remote nation, being landlocked and having one side dominated by the Himalayas and the other by wide malarial plains) was sufficient excuse for the local women to organize an impressive social event.

As our UN vehicle pulled into the street where RWDC is located (after a five-hour drive from the nearest airstrip), we found ourselves staring at somewhere between 200 and 400 local Tharu men and women (mostly women), dressed in their traditional event attire (red and white for women, blue for men), who had been waiting in the drizzle for us to arrive. The women had bouquets and laurel necklaces (think Hawaii), and dishes of a red dust used as a dye – and it was all to properly bedeck their guest (namely, little old me). I walked through a block-long gauntlet of affection, flowers, and dust, only to make it to the doorstep of Aasmani’s organization where the banner welcoming Americans for UNFPA was hanging above a dais and a stage.

Aasmani herself had been the chief organizer of this gathering – a testament to her respect and influence in her community that she could bring so many together in a choreographed manner. And speaking of choreography, what followed for our entertainment and celebration was two hours of traditional dances interspersed with speeches from Aasmani and the UNFPA staff reminding the many who stayed to watch just why we were having this gathering in the first place: because the work Aasmani does is so necessary for the development of a stronger, healthier Dang Valley.

That, after all, was why I was there too, and why we are brining Aasmani to New York in October for our Gala celebrating her work (and the work of two similarly inspiring women from Madagascar and Mexico). I can only hope (but honestly I have my doubts) that we provide her with a reception as awe-inspiring as the one she gave me!

I’ll spare you all the details of the banquet…