Global News by Region: Nepal
Reporting Rape: Part Three in a Global Series
KATHMANDU, NEPAL – As the warm winter sun blankets Kathmandu, people are making the most of it and soaking up its rays. But not Devaki Poudel, 39, who lives across the river from Nepal’s capital in the neighboring district of Lalitpur.
KATHMANDU, NEPAL – Away from the central bus park in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, and the hustle and bustle of the Balaju area, life has stopped some two kilometers away in Goldhunga, another village in the district.
Inside a one-story house there, Purna Patuwar lies in bed. His eyes are moist as he holds a photograph of his wife close to his chest. They were married in April 2011, but she died before the year ended.
MUSTANG, NEPAL – Mendok Gurung, 19, says a group of men kidnapped her six years ago from a family wedding. But her abductors weren’t interested in a ransom or trafficking her. Instead, they took Gurung because a man from the village twice her age wanted to marry her.
In Mustang, a district in Nepal’s Western region that borders Tibet, the tradition of kidnapping women for marriage still prevails in the villages of one indigneous group.
KATHMANDU, NEPAL – Inside a dark room of an old five-story house in a crowded neighborhood of Lalitpur, a district in central Nepal, Prabha Shrestha has been hiding out for nearly a week.
It’s been five days since Shrestha, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, locked herself in the darkness of the room, with no trace of light except from the mobile phone that she holds in her hands.
BHIMDATTA, NEPAL – For 360 days of the year, Radhika Bhatta, 43, says she doesn’t have any time for herself. A housewife in Bhimdatta, a municipality in Nepal’s Far-Western region, Bhatta spends nearly every day doing household chores like most women in this rural area.
She says she works hard from dawn until dusk. Women here are responsible for cooking, cleaning, collecting firewood, performing farm chores, rearing livestock, and caring for their children, husbands and elders.
KATHMANDU, NEPAL – In a residential area of Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, neighbors are unaware of what goes on inside this three-story building. Neighbors stare at the men, often dressed in women’s clothing and makeup, as they disappear inside.
POKHARA, NEPAL – Swastika Bhujel, 22, is blind. But that doesn’t stop her from playing cricket. She and her teammates are gaining fame in Nepal for their success on what they say is the world’s first national cricket team for blind women.
“At first, even I didn’t believe in myself enough to play the game,” she says. “But when I put down the white stick and picked up the [cricket] bat, I could play the game well.”