Your trip with Plan Himalaya contributes $ 5,00 per traveller to the RATO BALTIN project.

In certain areas of Nepal, girls and women are still isolated in precarious huts or sheds during menstruation, following a centuries-old tradition called “chhaupadi” which, although banned since 2005, is still deeply rooted.
 During their period, women are considered impure, unclean, polluted and unlucky. They cannot touch men or other family members, water sources, fruit trees or livestock, they cannot attend school or cross rivers, and they cannot eat dairy products or meat, among many other things.

This isolation exposes them to various dangers and makes them very vulnerable. Every year, 3 or 4 women die during this exile, due to suffocation, pneumonia, diarrhoea, snake bites or other wild animal attacks, and no one knows the true number of those raped. The belief that menstruation is impure runs so deep that families overlook the extreme risks involved in the practice.

The NGO Be Artsy, captained by Clara Garcia, initiated in 2017 the Rato Baltin Project, menstrual health management and sexuality education programme that aims, work with community health workers, teachers, political leaders and local NGOs, to convince communities to consider menstruation as a normal biological function, reduce the prevalence of “chhaupadi” and mitigate its consequences. Through these aims, girls and women are empowered and can continue to attend school and be active in public spaces.

See more information at: https://beartsy.org/rato-baltin-project-chhaupadi-red-bucket-project/