1. WOMANSWAY.IE 35
Real life
ByAoibheannDiver
the impact it had on its people was
devastating. The men who go from
there to work in Kathmandu can’t
go home because it takes too long.
“They might as well be working
in New York,” Gerry explained.
“Even though it’s only 170km
away, they can’t go home for the
weekend. They’re gone for six
months when they leave.”
Gerry and Trish were very
impressed by the Women’s Group
that was set up in the village.
Their main aims are to end
child marriage, keep children
in education, address domestic
violence and get wives’ names
on property so that if something
happened the husband they can’t
be kicked out of their homes.
“They collect money weekly
and they do little projects to raise
money so they can go and rent a
plot of land and grow crops on it
and try to make a bit of money.
There is no social welfare so they
have no safety net,” Gerry says.
Many of the husbands are
working in the Middle East and
although they send money back, if
something happens to that flow of
money the families have nothing.
When the Women’s Group was
first set up, ActionAid and a local
development team trained the
women in how to run meetings
and their first task was to elect a
chairperson.
The woman who was elected
had been married off at 12 and
was a member of what they
call the Untouchable Caste and
she became chairperson of this
Women’s Group. She ended up
working in the government
as the Minister for Regional
Development.
“We met that lady, she invited
us to her house for breakfast
one morning and she was really
impressive,” Trish says. “Even
though she had no education,
she was very articulate and she
developed an interest in politics.”
Another young boy of the same
caste left school at a young age
but thanks to a Children’s Group
set up by ActionAid, he is back in
education and is now studying to
be a teacher.
“His one ambition is to
come back into the village and
teach. He’s very thankful, very
passionate and very loyal, which
was lovely to see,” Trish says.
Gerry and Trish were shocked
by the level of poverty in Nepal.
“These people have nothing,”
Gerry explained. “They’re not
complaining about broadband
because they don’t even have
electricity.”
While they were there, the
village got its Open Defecation
Free status from the UN, a
movement which aims to ensure
all homes have an indoor toilet.
One thing that particularly
struck them was that the children
have absolutely no toys.
“We brought a load of tennis
balls and when we handed them
to some kids, they didn’t know
what to do with them.”
They brought some gifts out
to Sujit and were amazed by the
delight it brought to him.
“We brought a jigsaw thinking
he’ll probably have no interest in it
but one day I went to his room and
there were five or six of his friends
on the bed making this jigsaw and
they thought it was amazing,”
Trish says.
“They got a great kick out of it
because they had never seen a
jigsaw before.”
The couple now have plans to
fundraise for certain projects
in Nepal. They hope to raise
enough money to build a new
classroom or two in the local
school specifically to continue
the education of young girls until
they are 17 or 18. Once they have
achieved this, Gerry and Trish
hope to return to see what the
money is spent on and what the
impact will be.
“For us it was the small things
that had such an impact and the
monthly subscription is such a
small amount of money that we
give but when you roll it up across
all the people doing it, we were
impressed by what Action Aid are
doing out there,” Gerry says.
“We’ve had so many scandals
here from the charity sector, it
was a breath of fresh air to see the
work being done and the huge
impact it’s having on people’s lives
out there.” WW
If you are interested in learning
more about child sponsorship or
ActionAid you can visit www.
actionaid.ie or call 01 878 7911
“It was a breath
of fresh air to
see the work
being done and
the huge impact
it is having on
people’s lives
out there”
Following the earthquake
Some of the welcome party
Woman elected to
government
Members of the Women’s Group
WW40 Real Life DPS.indd 3 29/09/2016 14:34