Kopila and the story of "K"
I am Kopila Basnet. I have a husband and three daughters. I live in Jhapa with my extended family. My family, my two brothers-in-law and their families and my parents-in-law share my husband's father's house in Birtamod.When I started my career as a lawyer it was very hard for me to establish myself because there were so many lawyers and no one knew me. While I was waiting for work I was doing a weekly advocacy and human rights radio program especially for women. Because of this, people came to know me as a lawyer who would fight for justice for women, especially those who were very poor and vulnerable. These were the people who began coming to me.My mind was always turning on them and thinking about what it was they really needed. I find out that they were economically totally helpless. They had no money to seek justice or court support. I couldn't imagine charging them and even wondered whether some of them had the bus fare to get home.
Nepal government has no support for people seeking justice-especially for women. And the law has been slow to support them. Every step of the process, from lodging an application to filing a claim costs money. Then there is the reality that nothing in Nepal happens unless the person you want to do something is given "chiya kaja"-a little extra money to make sure your bit of paper moved up the pile in front of them. If you complain it means the paper goes further down the pile.Even if the ladies believed they had a right to justice, they could not seek it because they had no skills or resources. I believed we needed an organisation where they could get the skills they needed to empower themselves. They needed to earn an income so they could fight for their rights themselves without needing to ask anyone else for money and had the power to make that happen. I wanted them to be empowered to do some things themselves.Through my work at another project, I met Gopal who is now on the board. As we discussed these things, the idea for Sammunat grew. If we really wanted to help vulnerable women we realised we had to do it ourselves. Together we contributed NRs 30,000/ to cover the cost of renting a building and paying the trainer. Some of those women have gone on to earn their own incomes in production or training and some are now on our board. We began with a small scarf making training and card making training for 20 women. They also made purses and jewellery and were so happy because they were earning some living. Friends helped us to sell this in Australia and Nepal. Sammunat was born.
Knowing about people who are supporting us overseas has been so important to us and has given us so much courage to keep going.
Women in Nepal are still so vulnerable. It is the story of "K" that I still keep thinking about. "K" was a young woman (much like the young woman pictured here) from a big city west of Birtamod. She was told by a family that she was to be employed by a disabled man as a "carer" and to help him. They were from the hills but lived in Jhapa. When she arrived she was made to live in a room with the man and have relations with him when he wanted. She was so sad and cried all the time and tried to escape. She came to me to help when I was working in the Women's Development Office.Two times she had pregnancies and two times the family made her have abortion. So actually she was like a sex worker. So many times she tried to escape and seek compensation and then, when I tried to help her by getting support from some other lawyers, the family sold all he had and made it to another name and she could claim nothing. So now, she has been totally mentally destroyed and every day she is wandering the courts wailing and crying to people to help her. Sammunat was too late to help "K" but we want to make sure that women who want justice can get this.Knowing about people who are supporting us overseas has been so important to us and has given us so much courage to keep going. Some of our ladies will tell you their stories in coming months. We do not make them but many of them want to because people have been so helpful and they want people to know what the difference is that they are making.