This particular day was a blend of working on the site and making a visit to a local women’s cooperative.
In the morning, we started the process of plastering the walls on the inside of the house. It was a complicated but physically satisfying job and one of the jobs that I loved. In plastering, there are numerous steps, the first of which is to throw water at the walls and put a thin layer of cement on the walls. Following this, a mortar mix is made and thrown at the walls. Yes, we are throwing dirt. The water / cement application allows the mortar to stick. Once a thick layer of mortar is applied, it needs to be smoothed out. There is an art to making the walls smooth and I have to say that I found my calling. Good bye psychology and hello masonry! 🙂 Along with several other HFH members who were also drawn to this task, we managed to create walls that were as smooth as drywall. I was really impressed with the process. It is amazing at the feelings of pride and satisfaction one experiences in working with one’s hands. We managed to complete 2 of the 3 rooms on the inside. Our team also started the process of mapping our and preparing an area in front of the house for a cement patio. The completion on inside plastering, onset of plastering the outside, and completion of the patio were to be completed on Days 7 and 8.
Our team finished at around 3 in the afternoon as we had been invited by the Amardeep Women’s Cooperative (AWC) to visit them at their office in Bharatpur. On our home build, the AWC partnered with Habitat for Humanity to build Kamala Neupale ‘s home. In total, there are 11,000 members of this collective. To date, the AWC has built 300 homes for women and their families in the Bharatpur area. Fifteen of these homes where built in partnership with Habitat for Humanity. My understanding is that AWC’s goal is to support women who have been ostracized by their families or Nepalese society. These women have been ostracized for the following reasons: their perceived inferiority of the caste to which they belong, their poverty and marital status (widows). Overtime, the AWC and HFH hope to partner on 200 more homes in the area.
Our team had a lovely meeting with ten of the AWC members. It was an opportunity to learn about their mission and to ask questions. My understanding is that a participant is recommended to the Cooperative for sponsorship and it is the poorest women who get sponsored. If a woman is recommended, it is the job of the Cooperative to investigate the woman applicant to ensure that she qualifies for the sponsorship of a loan. If a woman qualifies, she is given the goal of saving 100 rupees a month for a period of 6 months. One hundred rupees is equivalent to about $1.12 Canadian dollars (or $1.13 USD). While saving $6.72 over 6 months does not sound like a lot, for an impoverished Nepalese family who takes in an average of 100 rupees per day, this is a tremendous sacrifice. Let’s review this: $6.72 saved over a 6 month period…How many of you spent this much on a Starbucks beverage and a muffin today? It is a reminder for us to perhaps think about how we spend our dollars and perhaps diverting it to a poverty cause, whether it is in your local community or an international cause.
Once a woman has saved the 600 rupees, they then qualify for loan of 60,000 rupees ($672.79 Canadian dollars) from the Cooperative. The women pay a 15% interest rate and loans are paid back over a 3-year period. When I heard that the interest rate was 15%, I thought that this was very high. I asked the question: How many women have defaulted on their loans? The answer…100% of participants have repaid their loans. Wow!
I also thought it was very interesting when the members at the Cooperative talked about if there have been problems, they have occurred when the husbands/partners become involved in the loan process and put pressure on the women applicants to take out bigger loans than they can afford. They indicated that women on their own are much more likely to only take what they can afford and are very aware of this.
I really enjoyed our meeting and the tea we shared at the end.
The Travelling Psychologist 