Banished once a month

Banished once a month

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Once a month, Dhuna Devi Saud sleeps in a tiny shack with no windows and very little to protect her from animals roaming the hills outside.

She is not the only one from her village in Nepal who finds herself in these uncomfortable conditions. Dhuna lives in an area of the country where many woman practice ‘chaupadi', a tradition that cuts them off from the rest of society when they are menstruating.

. ACHHAM, Nepal. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Jamuna Devi Saud lives in the same village and also practices chaupadi.

The custom not only obligates women like her to sleep in often rickety and unhygienic huts when they are menstruating. They are also not allowed to enter houses or temples, use normal public water sources, take part in festivals or touch others when they are on their period.

Jamuna says that she dislikes isolating herself once a month, but chaupadi is part of the village’s culture and she has to observe it.

. ACHHAM, Nepal. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Despite cultural pressure, some women in the village do ignore the custom. School teacher Rupa Chand Shah used to practice chaupadi but decided to stop. She now comes to work during her period, and encourages girls in her class to do the same.

. ACHHAM, Nepal. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Some in the region have worked hard to raise awareness of the dangers of chaupadi, and the governmental women and children’s office runs classes to educate women on the subject.

Here, 15-year-old Sanu Bhul and 16-year-old Nirmla Kadayat dance to a song calling for the end of chaupadi during one such workshop.

The song can be heard on the accompanying audio track.

. ACHHAM, Nepal. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Chaupadi is not only uncomfortable for the women who observe it – it can also be dangerous.

Alone in sheds that are frequently rickety and unhygienic, there have been cases of women dying while practicing chaupadi from illness, exposure, animal attacks or from fires lit in poorly ventilated spaces.

Sarmila Bhul, whose photograph is pictured above, was found dead while isolated in a shack in Ridikot Village. The cause of her death was never established.

Chaupadi was banned by Nepal's Supreme Court in 2005, but it is still common in the country's far and mid-western regions.

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Slideshow

A general view shows Legudsen Village, where many female residents practice chaupadi.
. ACHHAM, Nepal. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

A general view shows Legudsen Village, where many female residents practice chaupadi.

Twenty-year-old Surja Devi Saud sits outside her house in Legudsen, in Nepal’s remote western Achham District.
. ACHHAM, Nepal. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Twenty-year-old Surja Devi Saud sits outside her house in Legudsen, in Nepal’s remote western Achham District.

Suntali Devi Saud washes her clothes in water flowing from the hills of Legudsen Village.
. ACHHAM, Nepal. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Suntali Devi Saud washes her clothes in water flowing from the hills of Legudsen Village.

A woman’s shawl is left drying on a rock. It was washed to ‘cleanse’ it again after the woman practiced chaupadi.
. ACHHAM, Nepal. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

A woman’s shawl is left drying on a rock. It was washed to ‘cleanse’ it again after the woman practiced chaupadi.

Aishi Devi Saud, who practices chaupadi, poses for a photograph in traditional village dress outside her house.
. ACHHAM, Nepal. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Aishi Devi Saud, who practices chaupadi, poses for a photograph in traditional village dress outside her house.

Bhogu Devi Saud, who used to practice chaupadi before she went through the menopause, heads to cut grass in Legudsen Village.
. ACHHAM, Nepal. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Bhogu Devi Saud, who used to practice chaupadi before she went through the menopause, heads to cut grass in Legudsen Village.

Dhuna Devi Saud drapes a shawl around herself to keep warm as she sits outside her house while practicing chaupadi.
. ACHHAM, Nepal. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Dhuna Devi Saud drapes a shawl around herself to keep warm as she sits outside her house while practicing chaupadi.

A relative offers food to women practising chaupadi, without touching the dish or the women.
. ACHHAM, Nepal. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

A relative offers food to women practising chaupadi, without touching the dish or the women.

Fourteen-year-old Uttara Saud waits outside her house to receive her dinner while practicing chaupadi.
. ACHHAM, Nepal. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Fourteen-year-old Uttara Saud waits outside her house to receive her dinner while practicing chaupadi.

Uttara sits inside the shed where she will spend most of her time until her menstruation ends.
. ACHHAM, Nepal. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Uttara sits inside the shed where she will spend most of her time until her menstruation ends.

The fourteen-year-old stands outside her house after taking a bath and completing the chaupadi practice.
. ACHHAM, Nepal. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

The fourteen-year-old stands outside her house after taking a bath and completing the chaupadi practice.

Uttara casts a shadow on the wall of her house.
. ACHHAM, Nepal. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Uttara casts a shadow on the wall of her house.

Yagraj Bhul and his wife Ishwora Bhul sit outside their house in Ridikot Village. A year ago, their 15-year-old daughter died while practising chaupadi.
. ACHHAM, Nepal. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Yagraj Bhul and his wife Ishwora Bhul sit outside their house in Ridikot Village. A year ago, their 15-year-old daughter died while practising chaupadi.

The chaupadi shed where their daughter Sarmila died now stands abandoned. Her sisters and her mother no longer observe the tradition.
. ACHHAM, Nepal. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

The chaupadi shed where their daughter Sarmila died now stands abandoned. Her sisters and her mother no longer observe the tradition.

"If everyone else in the village stopped observing the custom, she would too, Jamuna said. Most other women in the village told me the same thing."
Navesh Chitrakar, Reuters photographer

“No, I will not send my daughters to practice chaupadi”, said 22-year-old Muna Devi Saud as she stood outside her house in the hills of Legudsen Village – one of many small settlements in the remote Achham District of far western Nepal.

In isolated regions like this, chaupadi has been a custom for centuries. But those from Nepal’s cities or from abroad often don’t know what it means.

Chaupadi is the practice of treating women as impure and untouchable when they menstruate. When they go through their monthly cycle, they are not allowed to enter a house or pass by a temple. They cannot use public water sources, touch livestock, attend social events like weddings, or touch others. When they are served food, the person who gives it to them will not even touch the dish. And at night, they are not allowed to sleep in their homes – instead they have to stay in sheds or outbuildings, often with no proper windows or doors.

The practice is the same whether it’s March 8 or any other time of the year. I think that many women from Legudsen Village and other settlements in remote western Nepal don’t even know that International Women’s Day exists.

They do, however, know all about the concepts of Family, Culture, Community and Fear of God, which have prevented them from taking a stand and breaking the tradition, even though they don’t like chaupadi. They have accepted the practice and see it as part of their lives.

As I worked on this story, I met many women who had been affected by the tradition. One was 45-year-old Jamuna Devi Saud, who lives alone in a house in Legudsen village and isolates herself every month. She told me that she would be happy if she didn’t have to stay in the shack when she menstruates, but chaupadi is part of the village’s culture and she has to follow it.

If everyone else in the village stopped observing the custom, she would too, Jamuna said. Most other women in the village told me the same thing.

Chaupadi causes all sorts of problems for those who practice it. Uttara Saud, a shy 14-year-old girl, told me that she has to miss school during her monthly cycle. Dhuna Devi Saud told me that she finds it difficult to sleep in the shed outside because it gets so cold. The room she sleeps in during her period is not big enough to fit a bed, has no windows, and only a tiny door. There are wild animals living in the hills around, and the shed does not offer much protection.

But not everyone follows the tradition. I met Rupa Chand Shah, a schoolteacher who used to observe the custom but decided to stop. One of her life’s regrets was that she could not attend her younger brother’s wedding because she was menstruating. Now, Rupa does not miss school during her period and she has set an example to some others in the village - her students come to class, even during their cycle.

As I worked on this story, I realised that chaupadi does not just bring discomfort and isolation to the women practicing it – sometimes they even have to pay with their lives. Isolated and poorly protected from the elements, they can be killed by snake bites, freezing weather, wild animal attacks, or fires they light to keep warm, which can cause blazes or suffocation in small sheds with poor ventilation. There have also been cases of these women, cut off from their families, being the victims of rape.

According to Gopi Singh Nepali – a program officer with the governmental women and children’s office – in Achham District alone seven women have been reported dead while observing the tradition. More casualties have gone undocumented, he said.

Gopi works with the government office to educate women about reproductive health – including the dangers of chaupadi. Based in Bailpata Village, not far from Legudsen, he says that there has been around a 50 percent improvement in the local areas where the government organisation is located, but in the villages without any official presence, everyone still observes the practice. This is despite the fact that Nepal’s supreme court declared chaupadi illegal in 2005.

I attended one of the training workshops that Gopi runs and saw two girls dancing to a beautiful song, sung and written by 20-year-old Mahaswari Nagarjri, asking for the practice of chaupadi to be ended.

One of the dancers was Sanu Bhul, who told me that her cousin Sarmila Bhul lost her life a year ago while observing chaupadi. On my request, Sanu escorted me to Ridikot village and showed me the shed where her cousin died. It was abandoned after her death and has never been used again.

While in the village, I met Sarmila’s father Yagraj, her mother Ishwora, and her grandmother Moti. I asked them about Sarmila and they said she was a healthy girl, who was very good at her studies and did not used to get afraid. They showed me an album that had Sarmila’s picture in it. She died when she was just 15.

Yagraj, the head of the family, said the cause of Sarmila’s death was still unknown. He said that the day Sarmila was found dead inside her shed, he called her and she didn’t answer. Worried, he kicked the door to break in and found his daughter lying as if she were asleep, covered with a blanket. Yagraj showed me how she was lying. Then he said he touched her and she was cold. He realised that she was dead.

Yagraj said there was no postmortem because there were no doctors in the village to perform it. For Sarmila’s body to be examined, she would have had to be taken to Doti, a nearby city, which would cost him 15,000 Nepalese Rupees (around $150) - money he didn’t have.

Yagraj has seven daughters but since Sarmila’s death none of them practice chaupadi, and nor does his wife.

As I spoke with Sarmila’s family, her grandmother Moti started to cry. “I used to love her a lot but she left us and taught us a lesson that ‘chaupadi’ is not a good practice,” she said.