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Laxmi Bhandari comes out of a “Chaupadi” room on an early morning Mangalsen village in Acham district, Nepal, 17 September 2017. Laxmi uses a small separate room in her own home during her monthly menstruation. “Living in a separate room in your own home is much safer than living in a Chaupadi shed which is set up separately outside one's home”, says a social mobilizer who campaigns to end the practice. “Chaupadi Pratha” is an ancient social tradition in Nepal that banishes girls and women from their home to makeshift sheds and huts during their menstruation period. The custom is practiced by religious Hindu communities in some districts of western Nepal, especially in the far western Accham district, which is located 424 kilometers from the capital of Kathmandu. Girls and women are forced to stay in small huts or sheds built away from their homes, or even caves, for seven to nine days during their monthly period in following with the centuries-old ritual. They are also prohibited to participate in normal daily activities as they are considered “impure”. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA/EFE)
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