We arrived quite late to Chitwan due to festival traffic in Nepal. The village inside Nepal’s national park is home to an inspirational group of women who support their community through farming.
The Women’s Progressive Group are a collection of strong, determined and empowered women who work together to improve their lives. There are 189 members in total which is divided into 11 subgroups. There are 21 members in the group we visited and it was a real pleasure to get a chance to talk to them about the challenges they’ve faced, and how they work to overcome them.
The group make an impressive sight; they all wear a uniform, a pink Sari, which demonstrates their organisation and empowered mindset.
The amazing Women’s Progressive Group all in pink – an RMF colour!
It has taken these women three attempts to form the Women’s Progressive Group. Through help from SAHAS they have made significant improvements to the community through success in commercial vegetable farming. They have had to fight every step of the way, with their husbands and male relatives telling them it couldn’t be done, and even being threatened by Police. They have encouraged the community to help each other and work together and six years of hard work have paid off as they now have a meeting place and they’re setting up a local shop selling items at a more affordable rate than the local market.
Director and Co-Founder Mary Storrie with children from the local community
As night drew close we sat under cover listening to the women tell their own stories. One woman used to make and sell local alcohol in her village. Through the support of these women, she took out a loan to buy a cow. Now, she has ten cows and is halfway through paying back her loan. She made the decision to take a risk, which as a woman in Nepal is no easy task, and the risk has paid off. Her son has chosen to come back from the Arab Emirates, and work in Nepal, building an extra floor on their house to raise chickens. This is an exciting grass roots demonstration of the power of youth in Nepal, who can work together to improve the economy, rather than moving abroad and sending back remittances.
Their amazing appearance matches their incredible spirit and sense of simply making things happen. They are confident and articulate women with a great sense of humour. After the success of our UK farm day, the Rosie May Foundation will be working with this group to build a water tank for these women and will soon be sending out volunteers to share ideas and knowledge from the UK and abroad!
Watch this space…
The women tell us their stories as it gets dark
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