Muna operates heavy excavator, trashes weaker-sex notion

GORKHA, June 15: While the notion of women as the weaker sex is still widespread in Nepali society, a 31-year-old in Borlang VDC, Gorkha district has shown how completely wrong it is. With grit and strength equal to any man, Muna Ghimire Shrestha takes everyone´s breathe away when she climbs into a monstrous excavator and levels the ground throughout the day.



Shrestha has been an excavator operator for the last 15 years and she claims to be the first Nepali woman to take up this calling. She was just 16 when she pulled the gears of such heavy machinery for the first time in her life. [break]



"I started as an assistant excavator driver when I was 16 and as of now I have taught 25 others interested in following this occupation," she said.



"Since no other women were working in this field, I wanted to prove that even a female can handle this job with ease, and I think I have made my point," added Shrestha with a smile.



Shrestha, who is originally from Garmi VDC in Chitwan, shifted to Borlang VDC after tying the knot with Surendra Shrestha. She was 11 when she got married.



Her husband, who was working as a manager at Saptagandaki Enterprises, now accompanies his wife at work as he himself is a full-time excavator operator.



"If we get regular contracts, we earn more than Rs 50,000 a month," said his wife.



Remembering her early days at work, she recalls how locals didn´t believe she could ride an excavator.



"When I was 16, I had already mastered the excavator but they didn´t offer me any job, thinking I couldn´t do it. But over time, I have gained their trust," she said. "Today I don´t have to search for contracts. Offers come to me," she added.



She said that she has operated excavators in all the districts of Nepal and on Indian soil as well.



"While I was working in India, the Indian government even felicitated me as a courageous woman in the excavating business. They offered me a good placement in India but I chose to work in our own country," she said.



"But the sad story is that the Nepal government has never acknowledged my accomplishment," she added.



Speaking of her plans, she said she wants to inspire and train other women in the operating of heavy machinery as an occupation.



"Women are equally capable of making a good living in this field if they are brave enough to start the engine," she further said.



Shrestha, who left her studies when she was 15, passed the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) exams in second division in the recently published results.

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