Educate Our Daughters

Filmmakers throughout the world tend to come from the educated classes. But what of the many women like me, who didn’t have the advantage of an education? I never dreamed I could make a film. I didn’t start school until the age of eight. I was mocked for being the eldest in the class. Before school I had to cut grass for the cow and collect firewood. When I was in Class 1 my parents passed away and I had to leave school. Later, I attended Class 3, but my teacher told me, ‘Your brain is filled with cow dung,’ and I felt hurt and humiliated and dropped out. Since then I have struggled with formal education. I married young and had a baby. By the age of 21 I’d given up hope of ever getting out of poverty and domestic drudgery. But then I got the opportunity to learn documentary filmmaking skills. It taught me to use my brain, and I feel proud of my achievement of making my first film. It proves that in societies where the uneducated are disregarded, there is still hope. Through this film I want to show that every girl should be given an education, and no one should suffer as I did. I am determined that my daughter should study and stand on her own feet, and face no discrimination. Filmmaking has given me a voice, and I want to give a voice to other women in Nepal, to tell their stories of the struggles they face in our unequal, male-dominated society.