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Many drops make a big river

Due to their family name many people of the Kumal caste have not been able to benefit from the development in society. The traditional ‘pot making’ caste, who also were the ones to carry the Kings and Queens around in mobile chairs under the Rana Regime, has been exploited by upper castes for generations. In Palpa district MS Nepal is now supporting 24 Kumal groups in cooperation with new partner Social Resource Development Centre (SRDC).

Dil Bahadur Kumal is chairperson of ‘Srijansil Samuha’. ‘Srijansil’ means ‘creativity’ and the chair person is eager to tell about the new initiative and how work is progressing in the 2 months old group. “Starting the group has given us hope and courage to change the livelihood of our community. For many years we have been ignored and cheated by society. You see, my father worked for a Brahmin and he once took a loan from him. It was only a loan of 7 rupees. But knowing that my father was illiterate, the landlord added two zeros on the paper. That meant my grandfather had to work very hard and spend many years to pay back the loan. And this example is not the only one. Even today we are being mistreated . If we take a loan of 100 rupees from a landlord, we have to pay back additional 4 kilos of black mustard seeds worth 300 rupees.”

Actually this is the third time that Kumal people in Pokhara VDC are trying to establish a community group. The first time the interest to meet and work jointly for social change was not there. The second time a group member stole the saving money from the group and fled the area. So why does Dil Bahadur Kumal think that a group will succeed this time? “We believe that both SRDC and MS Nepal are sincere in their wish to uplift our community. The fact that we now have a chair person and a clear rules and responsibilities has encouraged us to make plans for the group’s activities and objectives. Three Kumal people representing each of the 3 areas in the district have joined a committee to coordinate the activities, and that ensures that we are being heard at a higher level. If we are many people working together it is like many drops making a big river!”

The first trainings in kitchen gardening have already been completed and the good results from a pilot group in another area in Palpa have definitely motivated the members of the group. To create income is highly important for the Kumal people of whom many only have very little land and have to work for land lords to make a living. Other objectives of the group concerns clean drinking water and toilets for everybody. The group wishes to have a big pipeline connected to the main water source as the small pipe line today does not provide enough drinking water. Some Kumal people have to walk 2 km to fetch water everyday.
An equally important objective for the group is to convince parents to send their children to school. According to Dil Bahadur Kumal 75 % of the Kumal parents do no not send their children to school. To provide trainings in safe motherhood and to improve the general health condition in the community is also in the group’s agenda.