“Do you see yourself as poor?” I asked a young Musahar woman in a Dalitvillage. “Yes. Just look around you, you can see we are poor”, she answered. I looked around me. They had a clay home and straw roof. The children's clothes were worn out, the mother looked tired and a bit unsure of herself. She was at the beginning of her twenties, had four children, the oldest being nine years old, and a husband always away working. I proceeded to ask her what would help her out of poverty. She answered money. “Money would help me admit my children to a good school, buy more land to grow food, and improve our house”, she said. But can the answer be that easy?
From what I have observed, it can. As I have lived in Nawalparasi for the last few months, I have visited a lot of people who, unlike the Dalit woman, have received just that - money. On many occasions, I have visited the families of girls who have had to drop out of school because of poverty. The parents could either not afford to pay for their school equipment or needed the girls at home or at work to provide for the family. This creates a negative loop, where poverty causes further poverty in the future because of a lack of education, giving a lack of possibilities for money-generating in the future. In other words, it is an example of a poverty trap.
Bhawana Chaudhary (16) and her mother. Bhawana joined a local SAMVAD group organized by ABC Nepal after she dropped out of school. There she received an education and was able to speak about and learn about problems in society. She also got Income Generating Support to buy goats.
What all of the families I visited had in common was that they had received 20 000 rupees each from the NGO ABC Nepal. The daughters in the families had joined the local SAMVAD group when they dropped out of school. There they were able to speak about their situation and as a result received Income Generating Support, funded by Stromme Foundation. Three of the girls I met used this sum of money to buy four goats. One of them used it to start poultry farming. Now the families with goats have between twelve and fourteen goats each. The family with the poultry farm has been able to expand to fish farming. All of the girls have been able to return to school because of this. All of the families have been lifted out of poverty and into the middle class. With a little money and the knowledge of what to use that money on, the poverty trap has been overcome.
Rupa Kohar (16) and her mother. Rupa and her family also received Income Generating support from ABC Nepal, funded by the Norwegian organization Stromme Foundation.
The young Dalit woman I wrote about in the beginning is still in the trap. She and her husband do not have much education, making them unable to generate enough income, which again makes it impossible to give their kids good education which again makes it difficult for the kids to generate income. Poverty also makes it difficult to take care of own physical health, which makes it harder to work to earn money. “People die from poverty, from lack of education,” she told me. It is bleak. Poverty traps are bleak. And they are almost impossible to get out of, without any help. Luckily I have observed that with help, with a bit of money, a bit of education, a bit of confidence - a little nudge in the right direction - the poverty trap is very possible to get out of. We just need to recognize that the poverty trap is there, and provide the means to climb out of it.
The Author:
Name: Klara Svalheim
Country: Norway
Birth: 05.10.03 (19 years old)
Phone: +977 980-8054512
Lives: Sarawal, Lumbini.
Occupation: Volunteer with the organization Stromme Foundation, cooperating with ABC Nepal. Have stayed in Nepal for five months, and will stay for 6 months in total. Came to Nepal mainly to learn about the culture and society.
