Women participating in the peace group Kanumaya Thapa facilitates. © CARE28 year old Kanumaya Thapa lives in Tanglidhok Village, Gorkha District, Nepal. She became a Peace Ambassador with CARE project, Women and Youth as Pillars of Sustainable Peace (WYPSP) in 2008.
Soon after becoming an ambassador, Kanumaya became involved in the formation of a Peace Group. The group is made up of people from parts of the community who are often underrepresented: the very poor, the illiterate, those from castes who are often discriminated against. This has been a challenge, but also an eye opening opportunity, for herself and her community:
“I wanted to become a Peace Ambassador to help establish a peaceful environment. I hoped to learn, visit new places and gain experience. As a Peace Ambassador I have learnt to speak up and express my opinions. I can speak up against gender and caste based discrimination.
“With the input of WYPSP I was able to convince the community to form a group. I teach the members about their rights. I am able to identify issues in the community.
“Initially it was agreed that we would have weekly meetings for a 20 week period. The members work towards establishing an equal, peaceful and just society.
“It is sometimes difficult to gather people and share information about their rights. As most of them are illiterate, it can be hard for them to understand some of the words used in the manual.
New interest
“Even before the Peace Group was established people would meet for their savings. But they would come, submit their amount and leave. They never enquired how much the group had saved as a whole. Only a few people knew. Now the members have started taking an interest.
“If I let them know that a meeting is taking place, people even take time off work to attend. They are eager to get new information and knowledge. They are able to discuss how their rights have been violated. They can express their own opinions and ideas about caste and gender discrimination. If any community work, such as cleaning or repairing walkways, needs to be done we do it as a group.
We share our knowledge
“Before becoming a Peace Ambassador I had no contact with these people, now I meet with them regularly. We know each other and we share our knowledge. Even better, the men let the women learn and go forward. Women are holding posts at every level of the committees.
“Personally, I have gained knowledge about rights and advocacy. I’ve had training and I visited new places. I am recognised in my community as a Peace Ambassador.
“The community members are very happy that I share whatever knowledge I have. They say, ‘If the Peace Ambassador child had not come and established the Peace Group, we would know nothing. We were even scared of speaking. We could not express the problems we faced. We did not know what human rights are. Since the Peace Ambassador child has held the meetings we have gained knowledge.’
I will continue to work
“In the future, even if this program ends, I will continue to work. I will call regular meetings and ensure the members attend. I will encourage women to be proactive in community activities. I will support them in raising community issues and organise awareness campaigns about caste and gender discrimination. We will continue the community cleaning program. We will identify local resources, income generation possibilities, use them effectively for sustainable peace in our community.
“I want young people to know that if we want our rights, we have to go for it. Nobody is going to come and give it to us. We must work hard in our own country and community. We must identify local resources and work towards development. We must walk the path of development, not waste time complaining about the darkness.”
