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Fourteen-year-old Radhika Sunar, left, studies in the yard in front of her home as friends watch on Nov. 29, 2012, in Siddheshwar village, Achham, Nepal. Girls are banned from certain areas during menstruation, including inside of their homes, forcing them to study, eat, and bathe outdoors. 'I don't like it at all,' she says. 'When I'm walking everyone yells at me 'don't touch this! Don't touch that!' Allison Shelley
'We must bring about change ourselves,' explains Kali Bista, center, holding two of her grandchildren at their home in Bhageshwar village, Achham, Nepal, on Dec. 1, 2012. Kali followed the example of her neighbor Maheshwari five years ago and now sleeps in a room inside her home during menstruation instead of outside, as many of the area women do. Bista said years of public campaigns did nothing to stop this practice in the village until Maheshwari led by example. 'NGOs come and go but we, the villagers, are here to stay.' Allison Shelley
Maheshwari Bista gestures to the bed in the room that she sleeps in when she has her period, in Bhageshwar village, Achham, Nepal, on Nov. 30, 2012. Six years ago when Maheshwari and her husband, Tanka, constructed the house, they built it with a separate room for this purpose. 'I think everyone believes you should not touch gods [in the family prayer space] or go into other rooms, so I don't do it,' she says. 'If I start doing everything, people will stop having trust in me in the village. But I touch things in the field, I touch the cows.' Allison Shelley
Radhika Sunar, right, laughs with other girls in her village in front of her "chaupadi goth," a small hut where area women sleep for four nights during their monthly period, in Siddheshwar village, Achham, Nepal on Nov. 29, 2012. 'When four people sleep here, it is very uncomfortable. With three it is slightly uncomfortable, but when two people sleep here, its pretty comfortable,' she says of the space. Allison Shelley
Maheshwari Bista holds an old photo of herself, left, and her husband, Tanka Bista, in Bhageshwar village, Achham, Nepal, on Dec. 7, 2012. Allison Shelley
Dhurbar Sunar, project coordinator with local nonprofit Samabikas, speaks about ending the practice of chaupadi from his office in Sanfebagar village, Achham, Nepal, on Dec. 3, 2012. 'I think this is a social crime in terms of women's rights,' says Dhurbar. Allison Shelley
Staff and volunteers working with Samabikas, a local organization pushing to abolish the practice of chaupadi and to elevate women's status, hold a meeting in Bhageshwar village, Achham, Nepal, after going door to door to discuss ending the practice of chaupadi with local families, on Dec. 8, 2012. Samabikas is working to declare all area villages "chaupadi-free." Allison Shelley
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For generations, the custom of chaupadi forced menstruating women to sleep outside of their homes in small sheds or in the family stable.
In this tiny riverside town in Nepal’s remote Far West region, a spitfire activist explains his fight against chaupadi, the local custom of isolating women from their families during menstruation.
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