Parwati Praja and her daughters.
Kumari Praja, 26, of Raksirang Rural Municipality, Makwanpur is now raising her five daughters. Kumari, who tied the knot nine years ago, gave birth to five daughters in a gap of one and a half years. She has now five daughters including a six-month-old toddler.
Early in the morning, Kumari and her husband Hari Praja, leaving their daughters from six months to five years in the care of their eldest daughter Samrita, go to the forest to collect firewood, who is now seven years old. Kumari does not even guess how many more children would be born to her until she stops menstruating. She gives birth every 18 months and is ignorant of family planning methods. Not only her, her husband Hari also says that he heard but did not know much about it.
There is no doubt that another child will be born within the next year as they are not in favor of using family planning tools. "There is no practice of family planning in our Chepang Community. The offspring are the gift from God. We have five daughters already. Now we are optimistic that a son will be born," said Hari, looking at his wife's face and smiling.
Kumari Praja and her daughters (the eldest one goes to school)
On the other hand, Kumari was feeling uncomfortable to talk about such matters. She said shyly, "I won’t beget any children anymore". Hari and Kumri along with their five daughters go to the forest to find firewood. After fetching firewood in the morning and delivering it to the hotel, they get 150 rupees per stack of firewood. It is hardly 300 rupees per day for two people, which does not suffice even to buy a square meal for their family members.
Hari shares that every Chepang couple, irrespective of their economic status, has more than four children. "There is no tradition of family planning since the time of our ancestors. They say that the children are the gifts offered by God”, he said.
The older children look after the younger ones. The eldest sister Samrita, who is seven-year-old, is in charge of four sisters. Being the eldest, it is her responsibility to look after her four sisters at an early age. She is responsible for cooking, feeding and looking after his sisters when their parents go to the forest. Samrita says that it is easy because others eat anything, but it is difficult to look after her baby sister. “I add a little rice and add water and salt and cook it. She eats a lot”, said Samrita smiling at her little sister.
Three sisters younger to Samrita also help her in her work. While Samrita cooks the rice, the sisters grind salt and pepper. We never know when our parents will come. We cook and eat ourselves,” said Samrita's sister Miley. Her sister is not afraid to go to school.
Hari Praja and her daughters
After waking up in the morning, she wants to finish her housework and go to school. She often skips school to look after her younger sister. Samrita, who is allowed to go to school only when her parents come home from work, is not able to attend class even 10 days a month. Samrita does not attend school regularly as her parents go to fairs and jungles to earn wages to run the house.
“You can't eat unless you go to the fair," Kumari saidl, "Three to seven births are common to a Chepang family."
Thirteen-nine-year-old Manmaya Praja of Raksirang-4, Ratuwa, has not a different story. She has six sons. Manmaya's days are spent taking care of her sons from 12 years to nine months.Manmaya couple along with their six sons are living in a thatched house. They are living on daily wages, and they are not worried about having another child again. Manmaya, who has only given birth to half a dozen sons, is giving birth to a child in the hope that it will be a daughter. She doesn't know that she can no longer have children using family planning.
On the other hand, Parwati Praja of Raksirang 4, Dumretar has two daughters in her arms and a younger daughter in her back. Parwati, who married Suman at the age of 18, became a mother of three daughters at the age of 26. She does not know herself whether the daughter at her back is the last child. What to do to have less children? When many children are born, children are more than adults in the Chepang community because they are not serious about how to teach them to read and write.
Local Shyam Chepang said that it is considered normal to have at least three to seven children. "Our Chepang community has its own custom. We don’t feel a burden of having more children. It's hard to look after until they are young. They can earn and eat after they get to their own feet," he said.
