Kalisha Devi Luwar
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Authors
Kishor Sharma
Issue Date
2016-05
Type
Language
en
Keywords
Agriculture , Food
Alternative Title
Abstract
Building Inclusive and sustainable growth capacity of CSOs in the Agriculture and Forest Sectors (BICAS) Location: Nepal, Kalikot, Mugu, Jumla, Bajura and Bahjang Number of beneficiaries: 7,000 smallholder farmers (30% women,15% Dalit, 20% Janjati) Project date: February 2016 - January 2019 Partners: Saipal Development Society, Human Resource Centre, Sustainable and Equitable Development Academy (SEDA) Nepal Principal funders: European Union Funding: €2 million Objective: To promote sustainable growth in agricultural communities and increase household incomes Kalisha Devi Luwar, 22 from Mana. She has 1 son Aakash (aged 3) and 1 daughter Sarmila (aged 6). Her husband Gugan is currently in Mana, but he often has to travel to India to work as a labourer in order to earn money. Kalisha didn’t go to school. She lives in a small house with her husband and his three brothers and their wives and children. Currently, the household consists of Kalisha, her husband and two children and her brother in law, his wife and their four children. They are farmers, but only grow enough food to feed themselves. They sell extras such as hay and straw as animal feed at the market three hours away. They make $2 from a 50kg load and they buy rice with the money they earn to supplement what they grow. When we met her, her son was eating rice with a tiny sprinkling of soy bean. Her daughter was in school in Grade 2. When Kalisha was pregnant she used to have to carry loads as heavy as 50kg up from the road because her husband was away in India working and it was the only way of getting the food she needed to feed her and her daughter to her home. She was still carrying loads up in her ninth month of pregnancy. When she did go into labour she ended up giving birth on the path between the road and the village as she wasn’t able to get down to a hospital fast enough. When women go into labour, they are carried down the hill/mountain in a basket. This will be done by a group of villagers, including the husband, if he is there. Quite often, it is done by friends and relatives of the expectant mother. Kalisha helped build the Gravity Goods Ropeway by carrying stones to the site of the upper end. “On the day I gave birth I was with my mother-in-law. I went into labour so we decided I had to go down the trail. I was scared because I wasn’t sure whether I was going to live or die. I had pain in my body everywhere and the movement down the hill made it worse. “Then at the midpoint I realised I was going to give birth. I thought I was going to die. When I remember it now it still shakes me.” During her pregnancy: “My husband was in India throughout my first pregnancy so I had to do all the work in the field, in the house and carrying loads throughout the nine months. “I used to carry loads of up to 50kg three or four times a month going up and once a month going down. “Going uphill was hardest. My back and shoulders were very painful and my whole body started to shake. “I felt worried about whether or not the baby would be born alive or dead. I was also worried about what would happen to me. I have heard about what has happened to other women from here and I was worried it would happen to me. “I was also scared about the trail and whether I would fall down. If you have carried a basket and you know how difficult it is. [On the GGR] “I helped carry the stones to the site because I felt it would make our lives easier. “I didn’t know something like this was possible. It hadn’t even crossed my mind that you could have something like this working here. “When it began working for the first time we were very happy. We put the red vermillion on our heads and everyone was smiling. “I like living in Mana. I like the sense of community and it is a very beautiful place to live but there is not enough production of food here and it has always been difficult to feed everyone, so it is a hard place to live. “We don’t produce enough food to sell now, but I am very happy I don’t have to carry those loads any more. “I didn’t go to school, but I want my children to get a good education. I don’t know what I want them to do, but I feel their life will be better than mine because there is more opportunity here now.”
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