Women's Wellness Program - Nepal

As you read this, there are 200,000 Nepali women in India's brothels. The trauma that these women have experienced is unimaginable. The average age of girls being trafficked in Nepal is 15 years old. Many of these girls are forced to have sex up to 40 times a day. They are also isolated back in their own villages in western Nepal. The word for menstruation in Nepalese is Nochune' which literally means 'no touch’. ‘Chaupaadhi’ is a social tradition in the western districts of Nepal, which isolates women when they are menstruating or have given birth locked in a cow shed or a makeshift hut because they are considered ‘impure’ when menstruating. When a girl menstruates for the first time, she must stay in the cow shed for 10 days. Every month women in this district are relegated to the cow shed for 4-7 days – yes every month, and during this time, women are forbidden to even touch a man or to go anywhere near their home. They are not allowed to consume milk, yoghurt, butter or meat, for fear that they may contaminate these foods and the animals that produce them. They are given only a small rug to sleep on and are not allowed warm blankets. Girls are forbidden from attending school or taking baths. Last year two young women died while confined to a cow shed.