2010

“There is so much land here, but there is not a single piece for us. Maybe it is not in our destiny.”

So say the women from the Musahar community around Sapahi VDC of Bara. They have spent their lives working for landlords, yet remain as impoverished as ever.

Over the last few decades, the landless people here have built meagre huts to accommodate themselves and their children. They have been here for all or most of their lives, but have no formal title to the land they live on.

• “We can’t actually remember since when we are working for landlords, we get Rs. 100 for one day work here these days”, old women of marginalized Musahar community says. “There is this vastly spread land here in terai, it is probably our fate that we don’t have even a small piece of it.”, they added. Sapahi, Bara, Nepal, 2010.

Working in the field. Sapahi, Bara, Nepal. 2010.

Almost every household living in this village doesn’t have their own land. Sapahi, Bara, Nepal. 2010.

Belongings of Jaga Majhi. This old fellow says lack of own land forced him to work for landlords more than 40 years. Sapahi, Bara, Nepal. 2010.

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Shyam Chaudhari (17) studies at class seven in local government school and comes to work in the field in free time. “I get Rs. 100 (approx. US $ 1.5) per day” he says. Sapahi, Bara, Nepal. 2010.

Struggle with the cold in early winter morning. Sapahi, Bara, Nepal. 2010.

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Jaga Majhi’s house. This old fellow says lack of own land forced him to work for landlords more than 40 years. Sapahi, Bara, Nepal. 2010.

Cattle helps them earn some money which is not enough since there are few other options of earning, Sapahi, Bara, Nepal, 2010.

Jaga Majhi can’t remember the exact year of his birth, though it is written 1995 B.S. (1938 A.D.) in his citizenship card. “I worked more than 40 years for landlords, I don’t have a piece of land, what else I could do” he says. Sapahi, Bara, Nepal. 2010

Almost every household living in this village doesn’t have their own land. Sapahi, Bara, Nepal. 2010.