Getting Bajhang ‘gender aware’.
Getting to Bajhang was “so much easier than it used to be”, according to our UMN colleague who was travelling with us from Dadeldhura to Chainpur, the Bajhang District Centre on the 17th of May. I’m sure that is true, but nevertheless the last few hours was a pretty horrendous unpaved road, even in our UMN Landrover, with clouds of fine dust covering everything.
Sue Clout, UMN Health & Gender Advisor, was facilitating a couple of days training for our staff on the importance of being “gender-aware” in all our work, so it was not possible to visit any of our outlying partner organisations. However, it was good to meet the Chief District Officer (CDO) and understand his concern for the communities there. I was also able to learn from some leaders of the local Christian community of the challenges of living and working in a place like Chainpur.
As we left on Friday morning to return to Dadeldhura, we had to walk through a gang fight between opposing Dalit groups in the bazaar. Although this particular incident had started the night previously because of a dispute over a marriage, the local hospital doctor told us that alcohol-fuelled disputes are very common there with injured people commonly ending up in hospital.
Chainpur is in a beautiful spot situated between two rivers, but clearly there are needs in various sectors where UMN can maybe bring hope and possibly reconciliation.
As reported by David McConkey
