Towards brighter days

Thin, bright and smiley faced, she is out in trousers and a t-shirt. She is the only one to be out in such an outfit in her community until now.

An innocent and extroverted young lady, she enthusiastically looks forward to change in her society.

She has demonstrated herself to be an extraordinary and brave girl, regardless of the criticism and obstacles she bore from the nearby neighbourhood and her own relatives, and sees herself as heading towards brighter days in her life.  

Born from poor labourer parents, Hasinah’s story is rooted in the early marriage of her two elder sisters.

She was too young to understand her family’s situation at the time when her sisters got married; theirs were forced marriages performed to avoid further family burdens to their parents.

I was not feeling good for my sisters for they were forced to marry even though I was not much aware of the things associated with it.

“I myself have faced a lot of problems from the beginning. Our Muslim culture doesn’t entertain a girl going outside home or community after she has crossed the age of 12. I was not excused from this culture. I was even prohibited to go to my friend’s house and spend merely 10 minutes there.  My father used to thrash me if by chance I spent 10 minutes at my friend’s house in the past but now it’s not like that. I am free to go and attend the meetings even for an hour.”

Later some people came from the Under Privileged Children Association (UPCA) Nepal Dharan and started to form child clubs.

Hasinah was then studying in a nearby public school. She gradually began to understand about the activities of child clubs, child rights and the role of children in bringing changes in society.

Despite this she was unable to share her knowledge and experiences openly in her house and community because of the tight cultural and religious beliefs of the people around her. She was alone, but via the work of the UPCA in the child clubs, she came to realise that a human being desires change and understood that one should move forward without fear. She also realised that to change her society, she had to start with her family.

She began to explain to her parents about child rights, health and hygiene education, and social rights and benefits.

She started sharing everything she learnt at the child club with her parents. Her parents scolded her at first, but rather than become afraid she threatened her parents with court action if they violated her rights as a child.

Gradually she managed to win over her parents. Her relatives and members of the neighbourhood continued their opposition however, accusing her parents of committing wrong activities in society by allowing their girl to freely go here and there. They even warned her parents that she would ruin the whole community.

Hasinah fought against this however, winning her parents understanding and support by clarifying them about her activities and endeavours. Her parents’ defence of her to their neighbour’s criticisms and warnings gave Hasinah confidence, as they claimed: “She won’t spoil us, rather she will brighten up the whole Muslim community with the knowledge and skills she has learnt”.

While Hasinah was proud of her bravery and commitment that has brought changes in her parents, she still felt concerned for the problems in her society.

There were lots of girls and children like her in her community who were not in school. Her continued efforts to make the parents and people in her community aware reached success as they made their children attend the schools.

If Hasinah knew any parents were battering their girls she would go directly to stop them. In doing so, some parents would tell her, “Hamare betiko pitu aur gadu tumhein kya matlab” meaning “it’s none of your business whether we batter or bury our girls”.

This sort of statement made Hasinah realize that these sorts of problems cannot be solved alone. As a result she began to bring all the problems and issues to the child clubs to discuss and would go in groups to the parents in order to make them aware. This has reduced the domestic violence, battering and quarrels in the community.

The girls who had to bury their faces under their scarfs now come out easily to go to school and get their education.

She has now received a lot of recognition within her family. She is involved in all of her family activities inside and outside. She can freely go to the market places to buy items, is involved in all the discussions related to her family matters and participates in decision making activities.

Speaking of her future aims, Hasinah says:

 “My parents have granted ‘Azaadi’ (freedom) for me these days that has encouraged me to fight and speak against wrong doings in my school no matter how small they are.

“I go straight to the teachers’ room and to the nearby tea-shop and ask the teacher to come to the class if the teacher doesn’t come into the class on time in periods. The teacher immediately comes to the class leaving their tea.

“I got all this confidence and energy for the change from the discussions in the child clubs formed by UPCA Nepal. Buried under a dark scarf until yesterday, I am set to bring changes in this brighter world today. I want to become a good teacher to eliminate all the darkness from our society.”