Kumarkhod, Jhapa

Houses in the eastern parts of Nepal are usually built in framework style.
Surrounded by a big courtyard, most of the buildings are 2 storeys high. The kitchen and some sitting- or workingspace are on the ground floor, sleeping and living rooms are upstairs.

In the main square of Jhapa Bazaar, small stores and restaurants are open every day. Twice a week on market days, the place gets crowded when farmers and traders from the whole VDC are selling all kinds of products from pan* to TV sets.

*) the leaf of the betal nut eaten with areca nut and lime

The VDC office was blasted by the Maoists in spring 2004. All over the country, the insurgents keep destroying buildings of Government institutions. In most small VDCs, the village secretaries have moved to the district headquarters permanently. Thus, obtaining an official paper like a passport has become more complicated for the villagers.

Siril Hembram, 27, and his wife Hetoria, 22, look after the local Christian church in Saraswari. The couple belongs to the Satar tribe, who are animists traditionally.
Unlike her brothers and her husband, Hetoria has never been to school. However, she and Siril have decided to give their daughter Susila, 5, a good education. The girl will start going to school in a couple of days.

Basilus Tutu (second from right) is 16 and in her last year in school. She is the youngest of 3 children and still lives in her parents' house. Both her brothers have gone to Sikkim (India) to make money in the construction business.
Basilus, who speaks Hindi, Nepali and English, plans to go to Kathmandu in a couple of years to study English and medicine.

Basanti Rajbansi (right), 18, lives in her oldest brother's household. After her mother's dead, her father got married again and moved to Digalbank in India.
Basanti is planning to live in Kathmandu where her brother runs a grocery. She finds it boring in Jhapabazaar and is hoping to find better opportunities in Kathmandu.

Unlike their mothers, young girls have all kinds of bold haircuts. Hopefully, most of them are sent to school: In the families we interviewed in Kumarkhod, almost 40 per cent of the girls between 11 and 20 years had never seen the inside of a classroom!

Padma Majhi (here with daughter Shima and 2 neighbours) is 23 years old. She shares a house inside a compound with her divorced sister and her sister-in-law. Her husband Sanjai is currently in Punjab working in a sugar factory.
As Padma's parents are both dead, her marriage to Sanjai 2 years ago was arranged by neighbours.

Fatima Sekh (right), 16, lives in a family of 10. She helps her mother and sister-in-law doing the housework. The father does the fieldwork on his own, he also works as a carpenter from time to time. 2 of her older brothers are seasonally working in Punjab, the younger ones are still in school.

Amela Khattun (middle), 25, lives in Rasunganj which is only inhabited by muslims.
One month ago, Amela's husband left to work in a garment factory in Delhi. She does not know when he will be back. The mother of 3 children would like to work abroad herself, even without her husband.

Like her neighbour Amela, 22-years-old Nasima Khattun (here with husband Dil Mohar Mohomad, 28, and daughter Sakima) would love to find a job outside the village. At the time she cannot leave, she says, because her children are still to small, and giving a good eduction to them is her and her husband's first priority.

Renu Yadap (middle), 18, lives in a big compound in Lasunganj with her parents, her younger brothers and sisters and the 2 older step-brothers and their families.
Renu left school after 5 years because the secondary school was too far away from her village. Asked about her future plans, she says she will get married by her parents.

Minu Rai, 29, used to work in a garment factory in Kathmandu, when she met her husband Harka Bahadur and followed him to Jhapabazaar.
Now Rupa earns money by making raksi* and helps her 2 mothers-in-law with the house and fieldwork.

*) liquor

Rupa Limbu's family originally comes from Paanchthar district, but she has never lived there. The 22 years old daugther of an Indian army soldier was born in Calcutta and grew up in places all over India. Only 4 years, ago her parents moved to Kumarkhod where they bought land and built a house.
Rupa would like to study Hindi in college or travel to far-away places like Paris, Switzerland or Australia.

Uma Rana, 30, was born in Ilam district and moved to closeby Birtamode with her parents 15 years ago. Soon after, her parents arranged her marriage to Hom Bahadur, 35, from Assam (India).
Currently, Uma only looks after the house and the children. She is planning to raise chickens in the future and make her own money.

Bhagwati Koche, 24, loves knitting and sewing. Before her marriage, she lived in Assam (India) with her parents for some years. There she took classes in needlework as well as in painting.
The mother of 2 small children regrets that her parents never had enough money to send her to school. The only thing she can write is her name.

Kuntidevi Buratoki, 37, is very active in the mother's group of NeCoPa*. She frequently joins party meeting all over the district and organises small women's projects in Kumarkhod, eg a savings group (dhikur).
Kuntidevi was born in Assam (India) and moved to Nepal with her parents when she was 11. Living in a multi-ethnic community, she speaks 8 different languages fluently!

*) Nepal Communist Party

Anita Chhetri (middle), 33, a housewife and mother of 3 children, has got a bachelor degree in economics.
Her own mother left her family when Anita was still a child and went to Germany. Sometimes Anita gets a letter. Anita herself would like to find a job in a bank Kathmandu. Of course, she would not go without husband Kishna who owns a tea estate in the neighbouring VDC Tagandubba.

Janis Ganesh, 27, was born in Biratnager in Morang district. She moved to Kumarkhod when her parents arranged her marriage to husband Santos Kumar, 37.
Janis got a college degree in Hindi. Currently, she is a housewife only, but she dreams of doing something else. She would love to find some job in Biratnagar and have her husband follow her after a while.

The Photographs