Narayangarh, February 17:

Sani Maya Chepang, 35, of Dhamili village in Piple VDC-9, has never been to a hospital. She thinks that the health post one hour’s walk from her house is the “hospital”.

Sani Maya, who was nursing her three-month-old son in her backyard, said, “I gave birth to my son in a jungle.”

The reason she gave for giving birth to her child in the jungle is astounding. “I have other grown children at home. I felt embarrassed to deliver my child in front of them so I went to the jungle as soon as I felt labour pains,” she said. “After delivering the child, I called my husband to the jungle.

We bathed the child and I myself cut the umbilical cord with a sickle,” Sani Maya said. She has seven children, six sons and a daughter. Her eldest son is aged 20.

She added that she gave birth to another son as well in the jungle as she felt embarrassed because of her grown children. Asked if there was no midwife in the village, Sani Maya replied, “I felt embarrassed to call the midwife. I preferred to go into the jungle where I would be unseen.”

There are 105 Chepang households in Dhamili village. The illiterate and impoverished Chepangs are compelled to survive on wild fruits for about three months every year when the stock of maize and millet cultivated on unclaimed land nearby finishes. The Chepangs don’t have their own land. They are also unaware of safe motherhood and post-natal child healthcare due to lack of education and awareness. Projects on safe motherhood and mother-child healthcare conducted by NGOs have not been able to reach villages like Dhamili. There are over 15,000 Chepangs in Chitwan district alone.