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She: An Alchemist

Bijaya Kumar Shrestha

She is the most educated in her family. She is not only the homemaker but the finance maker who is driving the whole family from her dedication and skills. She was born and brought up in Panauti village, which is very popular for agriculture farming in Nepal. She got married to a man from Chitlang village at about the age of twenty-one, and now the resident of Chitlang, which too is famous for agriculture as well as tourism. In doing so, she did not only shift herself from “Janma Ghar” Panauti to “Karma Ghar” Chitlang, but she also brought her knowledge and skill that she had.

Remembering her life seven years before, she feels null as they had to live the devastating life as success was far from achievable for them. They tried lot to earn for living but turned out to be very hard for them. She said, “Can you imagine what we did just for living or surviving in one sense, the life was so hard”.

She was married to a person who was just 10th pass, and was youngest son of her family. Life is hard in rural areas; people are desperate to earn money as survival is very hard. One will start thinking of earning once he is grown up, as they have to support their family and even to mark presence of family in the society.  Her husband was not an exception to that, the desperation to earn, support, reputation and even to prove that one is now grown up, right after schooling he went to Kathmandu for about two years exploring the ways how he can direct his life. But, Kathmandu doesn’t give same “Luck” to all. People wander and lost their life in finding what is right for them. Fate was not with her husband and which is in one way important to survive in Kathmandu. Finally with no options ahead and not any path to explore, he returned back to the village and got married. With the marriage, he experienced the huge changes in his life and family both in social, economic values. This all came from the knowledge, skill, dedication and education that came with his wife. He expressed but did not spoke.

As the struggle was going on for survival, within this period she risked and take the loan of 30K from one of the Micro Finance, this came as a turning point in their life. With this money she started green vegetable farming in 1 Ropani land, which gave her 100 K profit within a season. This was a huge income for them and the level of excitement was high as they got chance to taste the fruit of success after multiple failures. Their dedication and hard work ultimately paid off. She found what her “business is” and what she must do now. After that, she was more focused and continuously grew vegetables on her farmland. Her business grew more than she had expected. Now, she owns 19 Ropani of land and making the profit of 800 K in a season. The best part of the effort is, she does the entire agricultural work herself. She knew that she is born to do agriculture and that she must use her skills for more profit. She hardly hires one or two people during the time of harvesting but only if needed. So, in a sense, she herself is cultivating 19 Roapni lands and earnings for the family. With these proven examples, she has been able to earn the respect from family as well as from the entire village/community. She is the one who is driving the family singlehandedly in one way.

She has tasted the success in agriculture, now she even has started the Home Stay tourism from last year. Apart from hard work she even has been using her education too in different branches of business and establishing herself in real business world. Her husband takes care of the business. She has already spent 700 K for the purpose. Now, she is waiting for the return and is very confident that there will be.

She was really very happy to share her success story. Staring from being recognized, she has now established a different status of herself and family in the respected position. With the expansion of the earning and occupational boundaries, she now has built two storied house and living happily with her husband, small son aged 4 and mother in law. She has also kept a few goats, cows. She is all set to sell three of the goats this Dashain and make the money for the celebration. The cows give them milk, nutrients for her family and the child.

Hearing her story, observing the thing, she has established herself as center of the family petal force. Things are revolving around her. She is the one who drove the family from the ground of poverty to become a millionaire and tourism entrepreneur. Thus, she is not only the homemaker but the finance maker and family driver. And more, this probably is the best example of how an educated and the skilled women can entirely transform her family.

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The author is an Information Technology graduate of Kathmandu University working in an Educational Institution.

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