Banished for Bleeding Our World

Now on BBC News, Our World.

Kathmandu, the city I call home.

My friend Nirmala and I never felt restricted here,

until we started our periods.

Suddenly there were lots of things we were not meant to do,

like cook or worship.

My college friend, she's like I'm having my period,

I'm treated like a queen, I don't have to work in kitchen,

I don't have to go to Temples, that's not treating

you like a queen, that's like treating you like you're

untouchable.

The rules didn't make much sense to us growing up.

My mother used to tell me that you shouldn't touch plants

or they will die.

Periods are still deeply taboo here in Nepal.

And while things in the city are gradually changing,

we heard in the remote far west it's very different.

So we're leaving our urban life to travel to the mountains,

to discover why the taboos are still so powerful.

And ask why some people are so scared of menstruating women

that they won't even let them inside the house.

They have to sleep in there, I'm really shocked, this is a place

where they keep cattle.

My name is Divya, I recently graduated and live with my parents.

They're very liberal but sometimes I can't take part in celebrations

as I'm considered impure by my extended family.

It was a festive season, I was preparing everything

for the worship and I did everything, I worked for one day

and I suddenly had my period and then everybody was like purify

everything, she touched it, let's not do it now,

it has to get purified before we worship the God.

I think what it is when we ask our parents why we do this,

they don't have a clear answer because they're like God

will be angry.

I feel she's very brave, she stood by her words that's OK

now my daughter doesn't have to go through this and I think I'm

going to continue that.

I can't believe how much things have changed since my mum was young.

But my friend Nirmala and I have heard it's very different

outside the city.

We know that in far west Nepal we still hear that it's the poorest

part of our country and we really wanted to know what the women

there are going through during menstruation periods,

that's the reason we want to travel to the far West.

We've never done anything quite like this before.

Our trip will take us to some of the most remote parts

of the country where the rules around menstruation

are politically strict.

It takes several days to get to the far west.

Our first stop is Dang Valley in the fertile plains of Terai,

near the Indian border.

We've arranged to meet a local health worker to tell us

about the situation for women here.

We were just a few miles from the airport and we were shocked

by what we find.

The practice of sleeping outside the house during menstruation

is known as chhaupadi.

It's been going on for generations.

Because menstruating women are considered impure,

they face other restrictions too.

She says it's an hour's walk to the river so women can wash

during their period.

She doesn't feel comfortable, she won't be able to.

I thought I was facing a lot of restrictions,

a lot of problems, but when I come here and see the people,

this is something out of my imagination.

She has been campaigning against chhaupadi four years

as sleeping out without access to clean water can cause

serious health problems.

She tells us that chhaupadi was brought here by migrants

from the far west so that's where we're heading,

deep into the mountains of Bhajan to try and find out more

about this ancient tradition.

But what should be a ten hour drive takes far longer as it's the Hindu

festival of colours.

And everybody is celebrating.

We eventually get on our way to this small village.

When we arrive a local teenager agrees to show me around.

Almost every family in this village practices chhaupadi.

She tells me women will wear the same close and sleep out

Almost every family in this village practices chhaupadi.

She tells me women will wear the same close and sleep out

for four nights, during that time they can't touch men or eat certain

foods, afterwards they are purified with cow urine and return

to normal life.

This very fun part they told me was that they don't follow it,

they touch their brothers and fathers and they come

to their own house after menstruating and they don't even

purify themselves after touching other women who are menstruating.

I think things are changing.

I think it won't last for long any more.

And while I've been continuing to talk, Nirmala has met a young

woman who is pushing the boundaries even further.

She is in her early 20s like us and hasn't slept in the hut

for two years.

There are several hundred people in the village.

Most of the young men work abroad as labourers in India or the Gulf.

So it's the older generation who make the rules.

We don't find the older generation saying no true traditions,

it's the younger ones who are experimenting you are saying

no this is not true.

So I think it's our generation who wants to explore new things,

I think this generation will bring change.

But change comes very slowly, and even in cosmopolitan Kathmandu,

some of the taboos still remain.

I told my friends that I had my period in the school

and they were shocked to see me.

Really, why were they shocked?

They were just like how can you come on the first day,

you should be inside the room, you should not go in the kitchen,

you should not touch any boys, they were pretty shocked about it.

Are they still following those restrictions?

Yes like I have seen my friends, they have a special room just

because they have a period and mostly in the houses

where their grandparents are, they mostly follow it.

While we can laugh about the restrictions,

they can have serious consequences.

Several girls have died sleeping out.

Just last year, a 15-year-old suffocated while trying to light

a fire to keep herself warm in a chhau hat and according

to my local priest, there is nothing in Hindi scripture that says

they need to practice chhaupadi at all.

The government has been trying to change things.

Chhaupadi was declared illegal in 2005, but that hasn't made much

difference to people.

We have heard such a lot about chhau and want to experience

it for ourselves.

The women inside are members of the same family, this woman only

started her period six months ago to this is all new to her.

In an effort to end the practice, international NGOs and local

government have been working together to educate local people.

And several areas have now been declared officially chhau free.

But we want to see what that really means so we're travelling

to a chhau free village.

A local journalist is travelling with us to show us the way.

Here we go.

It's a bumpy ride.

And we don't get very far.

Something really terrible happened, our car just got into the mud and it

didn't come out.

I think we have got some work to do.

Unexpected heavy rain at the night before has made

the roads almost impassable.

It worked.

We eventually get on our way.

We don't want to get stuck in the mud again so we decide

to walk into the village.

And initially people here are reluctant to speak to us

about what has changed.

But not everyone has been so accepting of the changes.

I'm really shocked, this is a place where they keep cattle.

We expected things to be very different here.

With girls sleeping in their own rooms.

But it didn't look that different to the previous village.

Just demolishing the huts will not make a difference

because it's their mentality, their beliefs, it's their thinking

which has to change, it's not just the huts that

are demolished that will change it.

We want to know if the people in charge think the chhau free

policy is working.

We are shocked that even government officials admit

the lies aren't working.

And as knocking huts down doesn't seem to discourage people either,

it looks like it's down to our generation to try to change things.

It's time for us to head home, but as we leave,

I hope that the girls will continue to push the boundaries of tradition.

So that their daughters can earn the simple right to sleep inside.

Well, the bank holiday weekend is upon us.

Let's see what the weather's up to.