That’s because the VDC building has been empty since 2001, says Jaishi. The village secretary fled to the district headquarters in Gamgadhi and never returned. If people in her village need to make any official documents—such as citizenship, birth certificate, death certificate, marriage certificate—they have to walk for three days to Gamgadhi and even then only hope to find the secretary.

Tired of being ignored for years, Jaishi has joined five other women from three VDCs each in Mugu and Humla and come to the Capital. They demand a better presence of the government in their villages. But their cries are already falling into deaf ears.

“Non-government organisations come and go. So do their projects. The only source of steady support can be the state. We need its representatives in our village,” says Jaishi.

The situation is similar in Pampha Shahi’s village, Kalika, in Humla. The government services are so heavily centred in the district headquarters that the health post in her village is devoid of its staff and medicine. The mobile health camps offering free surgeries to treat uterine prolapse are also concentrated in and around the district hospital, leaving women in remote areas in perpetual pain.

“Women in our villages suffer from a prolapsed uterus condition, vaginal bleeding, white water vaginal discharge, but the sick have to walk for days to reach help. We are poor to begin with. Each journey to Simikot and back takes a week or more and costs around Rs 5,000,” says Shahi.

Around 10 months ago, the women from Humla and Mugu went to Simikot and Gamgadhi, respectively, and submitted a list of demands to the government authorities concerned. They wanted the government to send a team of officials to issue citizenship cards in villages, to open a temporary camp to treat prolapsed uterus and to deploy permanent staff in their VDC and health posts. When the response was silence, they followed up with the authorities three months later. Still nothing happened.

Instead, when the time to enrol in grade nine came and the students in Aisha Rokaya’s village in Shreenagar, Humla, had to submit birth certificates to be eligible to take SLC exams later, the village chief collected the forms and took them to the village secretary in Simikot. The secretary signed and sent back the forms, but never showed up. In fact, the VDC building has been converted to a police post.

At least Biura Joshi’s village in Dhaina, Mugu, sees its village secretary every now and then, even if he is temporarily assigned and keeps dozing off drunk. What Joshi never sees is the area health post, right next to her house, up and running.

“Our girls get married off when they are 13, start giving birth the next year, every year. The maternity health problems are so acute we are willing to look after the feeding and lodging needs of the medical staff in our area health post. Yet, the health post remains deserted,” says Joshi.

The Karnali region is the most backward region in the country. Poverty and illiteracy have taken their toll so heavily that despite the proliferation of non-government organisations and their valiant effort to eradicate century-old Chhaupadi system, in which women have to spend days and nights in sheds during menstruation, women who defy the system are ridiculed. “I stay in my own house during periods. People do not understand and make fun of my family,” says Hajira Karki of Kachhe village in Mugu.

Desperation for change brought these women to the Capital a few days ago, but prospects do not look too bright. They met with the Health minister on Sunday and received assurances, but the ministry for Local Development and the ministry for Women, Children and Social Welfare have so far refused to meet with them.