Tucked down a narrow dirt road lined with dense, green rice paddies is the small village of Mathhilo Kareli. Located just 20 km from the Indian border, it lies in the south of Lumbini province in the Terai, Nepal’s lowland region. It’s a humid morning at the tail end of monsoon season and 22-year-old Sheela Rokaya is busy preparing a meal of fried rice with tea at home for her parents-in-law and four-year old daughter Deewansi.
Rokaya, who is five months pregnant, appears relaxed and at ease as she cooks. So far, she’s been feeling good, she says, with a healthy appetite and frequent cravings for momos — Nepali dumplings — and chow mein. She usually eats a typical Nepali dish of rice, spiced lentil soup, and vegetable curry for her main meals. Every day, she takes calcium and prenatal vitamins — the first time she has taken such a supplement — which have been given to her by her antenatal care provider. Her first pregnancy, however, was very different.
Orphaned at a young age, Rokaya met her Nepali husband in her home city of Mumbai in southern India. She found out she was pregnant with her first child at the age of 18. Her husband worked long hours as a chef in a hotel and often returned home after midnight. “I did not have much to eat and there was no one to take care of me,” Rokaya shared. On the day of her daughter’s birth a neighbor helped her get to the hospital. When Deewansi was born, she was underweight and fragile. “She was too little,” Rokaya said, cupping her hands to show how small Deewansi was. “But when I took her in my hands, I was very happy.”
Soon after, Rokaya moved to Nepal to live with her parents-in-law, while her husband stayed in Mumbai for work. Her in-laws do their best to ensure she receives a varied diet with what they can grow as subsistence farmers and it is an improvement from what she was able to eat while in Mumbai. But for some women in Nepal, as in other low- and middle-income countries, maternal undernutrition is a significant issue.
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