Heavy bokchin okhaladhungaki thiramaya, sir, and the children have already left

Nepal is a geographical staircase, descending from snow-capped Himalayan mountains, through steep middle hills, to the lush flat plains of the south. This is the location for the latest BBC Our World: Banished for Bleeding.In the middle step, in the remote far west of the country, life has changed little over the decades.

For 18-year-old Ishwari Joshi, this means doing as her mother and grandmother did before her and leaving her home when she has her period.

The practice is called "chhaupadi" - a name for menstruation which also conveys the meaning that a woman is unclean when she is bleeding. "The first time I had my period I was 15. I had to stay out for nine days," she says. "We have to sleep outside."