FREEDOM DAWNING









This poem is inspired by the women in Nepal who after generations of suffering from the monthly isolation of Chhaupadi are enacting the law prohibiting their nightly shutting away in Chhaupadi sheds during menstruation and actively tearing them down. The ending of this traditional practice is the result of campaigners fighting for Nepali  womens' right to safe and normal periods, in their own home with access to sanitary protection and healthcare. Freedom Kit Bags is a charity  providing such sanitary protection, along with education to end the practice of Chhaupadi and to educate Nepali men and women to respect and care for their reproductive health. This charity is doing important work to improve the lives of women and thereby families and whole communities and every donation is gratefully received towards this life changing work. Below is the link to the Freedom Kit Bag website where you can read more about the project and donate and a link to the news report on which I based this poem and sourced the inspiring photograph. 

https://www.freedomkitbags.org

http://www.myrepublica.com/news/39258/



FREEDOM DAWNING


Rose flowered, they adorn the
hillside like a flush of spring bloom,
sprigged dress belying strength
as bare hands tear down straw roofs,
dust rising as stone walls fall.

Bringing light to dark spaces
where since their menarche
voiceless women were forced to hide,
exiled to bleed alone in cold fear,
some to die in their silent night.

Children gather now to smile
as mothers, sisters, aunts smite
the hated Chhaupadi sheds,
their future free from blight of
traditional incarceration.

Progress glows like creeping dawn
while the courageous challenge
historic cruelties, now outlawed,
as women educate, women arise;
freedom shimmers on Nepal’s horizon.




© 2018 Jacqueline Knight Cotterill.  All rights reserved. 



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