Archana Pariyar
Archana Pariyar is a print and radio journalist who belongs to a hill Dalit family, but was born and raised in the Madhesh. She is from Ward 4 of Saptakoshi Municipality. She has a Bachelor’s in Sociology. She is the first person in her family to get an education. Archana is diligent by nature. She learned to sew clothes from an early age to support her family. After her 10th grade exams she began working as a radio journalist. Since then, she has had the opportunity to work and connect with various organizations. She is currently affiliated with Himal Media.
There are six people in her family. She has had to bear family responsibilities since childhood. It is both a challenge and an opportunity for Archana to be able to take up responsibilities. She takes her family responsibilities as an opportunity to collect a great wealth of experiences. Torture, pain
Each person has a unique capacity. But she believes that there is a lack of capacity to recognize the capabilities of Dalit women. Therefore, she says, Dalit women continue to be kept away from many opportunities. If there is the capacity to understand the capabilities of Dalit women, there is nothing they cannot achieve.
Archana Pariyar is a print and radio journalist who belongs to a hill Dalit family, but was born and raised in the Madhesh. She is from Ward 4 of Saptakoshi Municipality. She has a Bachelor’s in Sociology. She is the first person in her family to get an education. Archana is diligent by nature. She learned to sew clothes from an early age to support her family. After her 10th grade exams she began working as a radio journalist. Since then, she has had the opportunity to work and connect with various organizations. She is currently affiliated with Himal Media.
There are six people in her family. She has had to bear family responsibilities since childhood. It is both a challenge and an opportunity for Archana to be able to take up responsibilities. She takes her family responsibilities as an opportunity to collect a great wealth of experiences. Torture, pain and dearth have been her bitter experiences since childhood. She has struggled against violence and torture. She has also been raising her voice against violence through the radio and through various organizations. Experience has taught her that no matter what the circumstances, one should maintain a firm mentality. She believes that only hard work can counter the hardships in life, and therefore one must confront life’s challenges head on. She believes that a sense of dignity is a person’s greatest asset.
Each person has a unique capacity. But she believes that there is a lack of capacity to recognize the capabilities of Dalit women. Therefore, she says, Dalit women continue to be kept away from many opportunities. If there is the capacity to understand the capabilities of Dalit women, there is nothing they cannot achieve.
She feels that the hardships and problems of others affect her quickly. She is full of eagerness to understand issues in depth and learn new ideas. She wants to understand society from close quarters. For this, she wants to engage in a deep study of the relationship between gender and the caste system.
She remembers an incident when the parents of her non-Dalit friend refused to speak with her just because she obtained higher marks than their children. She has made the violence and torture endured on the basis of caste and gender as the weapon in her struggle. She believes that the struggles that she has had to go through to support her family while also building a future has strengthened a poor, Dalit woman like her. Since she has been a direct witness to, and also experienced, caste and gender-based violence, Archana envisions an equitable society where violence and exploitation doesn’t exist.
