International Women's Day at Samunnat

Kopila writes:The day before International Womens' Day I thought we would celebrate this event just quietly, having some snacks with the Bahini haru during Khaja (meal) time. But the next day, a friend rang me and said she was invited to a women's program, and I changed my mind and thought we should do some thing new to celebrate.I told the ladies not to bring their Khaja from home.  For our meal, we all had Khaja from Kausila's Khajaghar. They were very happy.We invited two ladies from different parts of the media.  One was from local radio FM station and the other was a local journalist.  Our main goal was to help our ladies feel free to interact with them and share what empowerment meant to them.  I quietly sat and made some cards which they would choose randomly with topics they could act out or talk about,  giving their views. [This is a twist on a traditional Nepali picnic activity where people choose a card randomly and act out something funny].When the program started the ladies were very excited. We introduced ourselves and each lady chose a card and responded to what it said.  Some of the tasks were very funny.  Our dear Sita had to jump like a frog and Gita had to hold her hair and dance. Some were more serious with the aim to make people think.  Ambika had to act as a very shy bride defending her rights against hostile in - laws.  But the very good outcome was that they interacted very confidently with our invited guest.  At the end of the program Kausila gave us delicious momos and we all enjoyed Sangam sweets and fruits.Dherai ramailo thiyo! (It was very enjoyable!)