In March 2007, Kavita N. Ramdas (CEO) and Kellea Miller (Development Officer) traveled to Nepal to participate in the 10th anniversary celbration of Tewa, the first-ever women's fund created in Nepal. They were joined by Global Fund supporters Dorothy Abbott and Betsy Rix. Here is Kellea's impressions gathered from meeting inspiring women.

by Kellea Miller, Development Officer

Celebration holds a different meaning here, as Nepal emerges from an 11-year People’s War between government forces and Maoists.

The conflict pervades every aspect of life. Even as “peace” talks promise a new constitution, violence and poverty threaten women’s equality and indeed, survival. Rita Thapa, former chair of the Global Fund board and founder of Tewa, says that in her whole life of fighting for women’s rights in Nepal, she has never seen it this bad. She explains, “We have taken five steps forward and now, so quickly, we have gone three steps back.”

At a convening of 15 Global Fund grantees, we heard time and time again how the conflict placed an even greater burden on already strained women’s groups. Women for Human Rights, which battles social discrimination against widows, spoke of a huge increase in young widows in the 38 districts where they work. The group’s membership is now 14,000 widows between the ages of 16 and 35. Pingala and Ganga, Bhutanese refugees from Voice for Change had to sneak out of the repressive refugee camp where they live to attend our meeting.

We met women and youth who have lost family members and were forced to leave their homes. At Nagarik Aawaz, a peace-building group primarily for youth, Rita Thapa asked those who had been displaced to raise their hands. Eight of the 11 young volunteers raised their hands. Every single group echoed a need for greater resources to work across caste, region and issue to ensure that women’s rights are central to Nepal’s rebuilding. The women reiterated the importance of general support funding, especially as they respond to unforeseen and immediate challenges.

Among the devastation and lack of resources, women’s rights groups are creating spaces of resistance. At the first-ever National Conference for Survivors of Trafficking (organized by grantee Shakti Samuha), a young woman, no older than 18, spoke to 500 trafficking survivors, allies and government representatives about her experience. She was taken from Nepal to a brothel in Mumbai, where she was repeatedly raped, before moving to an orphanage where she was beaten. Finally she escaped back to Nepal, and bravely stood before us singing a song of solidarity. She went on to proclaim, “It is only when we are isolated that they can destroy us. When we come together, we can not be broken.”

The growth in trafficking among Nepali women is intricately linked to the increase in poverty in rural villages across Nepal. To escape the lack of opportunity, people have moved from rural areas to cities (primarily Kathmandu) and from Nepal to India and other countries in the region. The pressure to seek opportunities is especially high for illiterate women who have few or no options in their own communities. Yet, without social networks or resources, migrants are immediately at greater risk of coercion and exploitation.

We heard evidence of the toll violence takes on women when we visited Women’s Development Society, where we met Asha (Nepali for “hope”) and Srijana, two beautiful teenagers in jeans and sweatshirts, who sat giggling in the back of the room. We ceased smiling when Srijana stood up to tell us how their fathers had been killed, one by the Maoists and one by the Nepali security forces, and their families forced to move to the city. They credited wodes with helping them to finish school and training them as peace activists. Now, at 17, they confidently lobby politicians with their demands for justice and peace.

We saw this confidence and hope in every encounter. Perhaps that spirit was best shared in the many songs we heard the youth sing. If those who have lost so much can still sing out, demand their rights at every level and teach each other, then they have much to teach all of us about living with dignity and strength.