Sixteen year-old Nischal Pakhrin of Sri Nepal Madhyamik High School in Bara district is in class nine. She is diminutive and soft-spoken. But her determination to help girls in her community to search for their identity is firm.

“I have never understood why people look upon violence against women as normal. It is disgraceful and should not be tolerated. I often wondered how I could approach the members of my family on the issue, as I have been witness to many, many unsavory incidents of abuse in my home. The ‘We Can’ campaign gave me a chance. I joined up and began speaking to members of my community about the ills of violence against women. When my family heard of this they were aghast. My mother and grandfather were extremely angry and said my behaviour went against our traditions and culture. I reasoned with them and argued that a culture that does not respect women is no culture at all. I also made them understand that by raising objections to my going out and working for the campaign they were taking away my rights. They found this hard to understand at first. But eventually they came around and began to see my point of view.

After gaining their support, I felt far more confident. I encouraged other girls to join me and together we approached families and requested them to allow their girls to attend school. This may seem to be a very small step. But it isn’t. In our community, girls are barred from going to school. Our efforts have resulted in six young girls enrolling in local schools. This fuelled our enthusiasm and we have started adult education classes with 30 women.

I will continue with my efforts as long as I can. I have written poems on the issue and recently I have composed a song for the campaign. I sing this on many occasions and never fail to receive applause from women.”