Allison Shelley Photography

Deep in the Himalayan foothills of western Nepal, an age-old Hindu practice called chaupadi (or chhaupadi) still banishes menstruating women-- considered unclean-- from their homes during their periods. Their diets and physical, religious and social contact with others is minimized, but their workload is not. Sleeping in animal sheds, caves or even out in the open, rape and deaths due to exposure and animal attack happen. Though outlawed in 2005, chaupadi threatens the health of the latest generation of young women, destined to follow in the footsteps of their mothers and grandmothers.
Here, sixteen-year-old Deepika (not her real name) holds her three-month-old baby boy in her family's chaupadi shelter, a squat crawlspace under the home where the women of the household sleep during their periods, in Mangalsen town, Achham, Nepal. She became pregnant when she was raped by a neighbor and family acquaintance while alone in the shelter. She is trying to track down the rapist, who fled the country, in order to give him the baby, who she cannot afford to care for.