By: Hishila Danuwar (7th cohort fellow)
Hamro Palo (Also known as “Our Turn”) is a non-government organization. One of their main activities is to organize, “Her Turn” workshops in different schools of Gorkha and Sindhupalchowk districts.
During lockdown, I heard about the “Hamro Palo” organization. At that time they were seeking for trainers and I thought it would be a big opportunity so I applied there. At first they gave us training from experts for a couple of days. It was about how to co-operate with the people and how to facilitate the sessions. After training, we went back to the village and gathered 15 local girls (between 16-24 ages) who got married and have kids at early age. All the necessary precautions were taken to organize the program. During the session, we discussed about women empowerment, about our goals and ways of achieving goals, superstitions and their influence in society, mental health, menstruation cycle, child caring and nutrition, self respect etc. In 15 days we facilitated 15 different topics which really impacts our daily lives. We even played different games to entertain the participants and also told different facts about related topics.
Satisfaction does not come with achievement, but with effort. Full effort is full victory.
– Mahatma Gandhi
It was a good feeling when I saw some changes in their behavior, attitude from first day of session to last. During the sessions, they shared their experiences and I also learned a lot of things from them. From this experience, I was able to know my own community better and also the problems that women face because of early marriage. When girls get married early, I think they get busier in household works. They do not get enough chances to learn new things outside their house works. Therefore, I think it was an important program. At the end of the session, participants liked the program, they said it was interesting, they learned about saving money and the impacts of superstitions and also now they feel confident to share their ideas.
After 15 days of sessions, the organization provided me another opportunity to be one of their story tellers. In the project, people from 145 countries with different stories participated. They made a video about my story, how my life was, how I got motivated to study further and also how I motivate other girls in my community.
Further, they introduced me to an organization called “The Country that Shook” where I participated in their drawing project for the story book called “Kumari’s Adventure with her Moon Cycle”. The book is related to changing perception of menstruation in Nepal.
At last, I would like to thank “Hamro Palo” Nepal for the awesome opportunity and I also want to thank Sammanta Foundation for their constant support and motivation.