Nepal: A self -determined life for girls and women
Gita was five years old when her father died - and her family broke apart. She was separated from her sister and brother because her mother could not feed the children alone. A long, hard way to an uncertain future began.
Gita spent six years in a monastery. Then her mother died too. Gita came back to her home village, where she and her siblings now stood before nothing. The parents were dilapidated and leaking, they suffered hunger on many days. The oldest sister made Gita and her brother and went to work to pay food and school money. But the money hardly enough.
Her home, the province of Surkhet in the west of Nepal, is extremely poor. And girls are worse from an early age than boys. Both have dramatic consequences. Many never get a fair chance of education. Domestic and sexual violence, children's marriage and girls' trade are widespread.
But Gita got her chance - and she used her. At the age of 15, she went to a group of children in the "Aawaaj"*organization for the first time. Their declared goal: to oppose the oppression of women and to help children like Gita. At Aawaaj, Gita became aware of her strengths and began to determine her way herself. For the first time she also received the necessary support: pens and booklets for school, clothing, food - and a goat. "I'm now breeding goats to cover the costs for the school," she says proudly.
Gita is now 18 years old. She was elected spokeswoman for the children's group, which helped her at the time. Here she now passes on what she has learned from Aawaaj herself. After school, she would like to find a job in which she can support even more children in shaping her life herself. Because she now knows how good it feels to be able to make her own decisions.