17-year-old Daiya is a girl in the rural area of Kathmandu, Nepal. Just a few years ago, she experienced the most tormenting time of her life. Not only were he locked up in a small dark room in the wilderness, but he was also repeatedly discriminated against by the villagers. For a time, Daiya even wanted to commit suicide because she could not bear this pressure. Fortunately, Tapa, a young teacher in the village, persuaded her to save her life.
Until today, every time Daiya looks back on that time, she can't control her tears. What exactly has this Daiya experienced? That would cause such great harm to her young mind. In fact, the experience of Daiya has to start with the deep-rooted feudal tradition of Nepal .
"Mental Hut"
As we all know, menstrual period is a normal physiological phenomenon for every girl. Just like boys shave every day, girls also need to face this physical change every month. However, in Nepal, there seems to be a natural resistance to women who have menstruation.
If a girl encounters menstrual period, she will be strongly discriminated against by the villagers, and many people do not even want to contact her. In the end, the girl was forced to hide in a small dark room and fend for herself. The scene was once very miserable.
What era is it now? Our country has already popularized menstruation during the Republic of China period. Now that it is the 21st century, why is Nepal still obsessed with menstruation and treats menstruation as a taboo?
In fact, this is mainly related to Nepal's economic conditions. According to data in 2021, Nepal's GDP is only 30.4 billion US dollars, which is equivalent to the GDP of a second-tier city in my country. Due to the poverty of the country, the expenditure on national education is also very small. In addition, the people in this country have more children, so they can't afford the tuition for children.
Due to lack of education, people are extremely superstitious about menstruation. Many people feel terrible when they see the blood shed during menstruation, claiming that it is a symbol of filth. Once infected, you will get sick. At the same time, under the fooling of the priest , the villagers also regard menstrual women as unclean people. Therefore, under the influence of this feudal superstitious concept, Nepal adopts a "zero tolerance" attitude towards women during menstruation.
But menstruation is natural. No matter how "zero tolerance" you have, it will still come, right?
In order to solve this problem, Nepali actually came up with the operation of menstruation hut for the first time. Simply put, is to build a umbrella room a few kilometers away from home, and then place women during menstruation in it. can't come back until her period is over.
The reason why menstrual huts were built so far is mainly because this kind of thing symbolizes uncleanness. If placed at home, it is easy to cause evil, so the further you build, the better. It is precisely because it is built so far that many women during menstruation suffer from other diseases, but they are not treated in time and eventually died in a menstrual hut.
Young girls killed by feudal concepts
When it comes to the lethality of menstrual huts, we have to mention the girls who died in Nepal in recent years because of menstrual huts.
In May 2012, Katmandu A woman was bitten to death by a poisonous snake while recuperating in a menstrual hut. In December 2013, a woman in Bagron was burning firewood to make a fire when she was staying in the menstrual hut due to the cold weather. Finally, the menstrual hut was lit and burned to death inside.
Many people may say, why don’t these girls run out? The reason is very simple, because the village rules do not allow them to run out.
In the eyes of villagers, if a woman in menstruation does not stay in her menstrual hut and runs around, it will bring bad luck to the village. At that time, the villagers of will blame her for all the bad things that happened in the village, leaving her in a state of social death.
This happened to Daiya mentioned earlier in their family.Daiya's sister Rayi once escaped from the menstrual hut to look for food during menstruation, but was discovered by the villagers. The villagers not only forced Wu Zhu to "cast spells" to Rayi, but also forced her to take a bath with cow urine.
Later, as long as anyone in the village loses a chicken and whose cow is bitten by a tiger, it can be blamed on Rayi's head. Rayi once said that during that period, she seemed to be in hell, and wherever she went, she would be criticized by the villagers. It is precisely because the villagers have set such dead rules for menstrual women that these women are in a state of fear every day, fearing that one day they will become the target of public criticism.
Want to save but cannot
When a woman’s thoughts are bound, she naturally treats her menstrual hut as a cage that imprisons herself. Even if he was not locked by the iron chain, he would not dare to step beyond the line. Under this PUA-style pressure, a large number of Nepalese women died, and most of them died because they were not treated in time.
For example, in September 2015, a woman in Jiumula was infected with a cold in her menstrual hut. At that time, she tried to leave the menstrual hut and seek help from her family. However, due to the village rules, I dare not walk out of the menstrual hut. It was not until dark that the family had finished the farm work and came over to see her with food.
At this time, she was already curled up in the corner and unable to move. Due to weakness and malnutrition, the girl kept foaming at her mouth and sometimes her eyes turned pale. My family was very anxious to see this situation and wanted to rescue her and take her to a nearby hospital for treatment. But the village rules cannot be violated, so I can only watch her suffer.
And during menstruation, other people are not allowed to touch this woman. Even if she was forced to rescue her and sent to the hospital, no one would be treated. Because doctors are also supporters of this feudal superstition, especially in township hospitals, doctors generally abide by the rules in the village. In their hearts, treating women who have menstrual periods is equivalent to severing their own future, so no one dares to take on this job.
That's it, the girl in the menstrual hut eventually died of cold. Just the last moment she closed her eyes, she seemed to be cursing this unfair country. Why is this country so cruel to women during menstruation? Why do innocent women always bear the costs they shouldn't bear?
The determination of the Nepalese government
Just after the girl passed away, young intellectuals in the local government departments began to have new ideas. They no longer support this anti-human tradition, and they all began to take to the streets to seek justice for the tragic death of the girl. The event then swept across all counties and districts of Nepal. Especially in big cities, many women expressed their anger at this and called on their companions to break the shackles of feudal superstition.
Under the promotion of young people, the Nepali government has gradually realized the harm of this tradition. Especially in modern society, this tradition is tantamount to murder. Therefore, the Nepali government decided to eliminate this feudal remnant.
Although I have this determination, it is particularly difficult to implement it. After all, this tradition has been passed down for thousands of years and has left a deep mark in the minds of the people. It seems a bit unrealistic to say that it is abolished now.
The urban area is not bad, after all, the people there have received some education. But for people in rural areas, if this tradition is easily abolished, it will be unacceptable for a while. Just like shaved her braid in the late Qing Dynasty, she was once boycotted by many remnants of the Qing Dynasty.
method is always more difficult than
Of course, although there are many difficulties, these traditional bad habits will eventually be swept into the trash can of history. After all, things like this are really incomprehensible to things like this. Fortunately, the Nepali government has the determination and means, and they are gradually implementing various policies to change the customs of menstrual huts.
For example, fines people who build menstrual huts, or gives popular science and physiological knowledge to women in rural areas, etc. .Some open areas even actively invest in women's sanitary napkin factories to solve the menstrual hygiene problems of Nepal women.
Of course, all these measures and means must be based on the acceptance of the general public and gradually promoted. This will test the Nepali government's execution ability and trading ability. When the Nepali government truly cleans up these feudal remnants one day, Nepali women will usher in the dawn of freedom. With the advent of modernization, I believe this day will not be too long.
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