Kitthi Tamata of Mastamandu VDC
At 30 years of age, Kitthi Tamata has been a widow for half of her life. When she lost her husband 14 years ago, she had just given birth to her second child, a son. The death of her husband took her and her two children to live with her in-laws and then with her parents.
“I had no money and two little children to support. So I decided to learn how to stitch and sew. I applied for training here and I was one of the nine people selected,” she says.
Kitthi Tamata
That was more than a decade ago. The training, organized by YES Nepal under ICCO Cooperation’s Local Initiative for Social Transformation Project, was conducted by a trainer from the Gharelu Tatha Sano Udyog Bikas Samiti from the district headquarters, Mangalsen.
Now she has set up shop just by the main road where she takes in orders and also sells a few other things. Business is not exactly great but she makes enough to send her children to the local English medium school and she is happy.
“I have enough work. The orders increase during the festive season and during the local mela. But the most I make is when I get orders for program badges. Then I work all night and I can make up to Rs 3,000 from the badges alone,” she says.
Kitthi works simply: She has no interlock stitching machine or an iron. She pays someone else Rs 10 to iron her customer’s cloth. And she admits she cannot stitch the latest styles of kurtas.
Her clients don’t always pay her in cash. In exchange for work done, she’s given daal, wood, rice, vegetables, etc.
She says, “I don’t have to spend money and buy these things, so it’s okay. I also give away noodle packets when I don’t have loose change.”
Kitthi also teaches in a child development center for four hours each day. Though she may not be making a lot of money, she has achieved something far more valuable – respect.
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She says, “Nowadays, I don’t have to depend on anyone. I help my parents sometimes with money. Recently, my youngest brother-in-law came to visit with gifts for everyone. I saw that he hadn’t brought me anything, so when I asked him why there was nothing for me, he said, ‘Why do you need anything? You’re a working woman.’”
She smiles happily.
Deepa Nath of Mastamandu VDC
The shyness of the slender young woman belies her strength. Deepa, 25, lived with an abusive husband for many years before she found the strength to leave him for good. Her elder daughter still lives with her husband while the younger one is with her.
She says, “Once, after a bad incident, I had decided to leave him and I asked my in-laws to help me start a grocery store. It cost Rs 10,000 to start the business and I made Rs 50,000 in seven months. But when I finally left him, I had to leave everything behind. They say I can get the money back but I need to go to their home to get it. But I’m never going back.”
These days, Deepa helps her parents run their own small shop. They have a daily turnover of Rs 1,200 to 2,000 but most villagers tend to buy things on credit.
Deepa Nath (C)
She wants to do more. Recently, she participated in an entrepreneurship training conducted by Samriddhi Foundation in Dhangadi. She has come back with plans of starting a goat farm with a loan of Rs 56,000.
“I’ll have to fix the goat shed in my home. Then I’ll buy eight goats to start with. My family will help me,” she says.
The entrepreneur in her is already adding more businesses to the dream. Opening a store where she’ll sell shoes and slippers is her next target.
Rewanti Bohara of Chandika VDC
A shining example of good nature and hard work is Rewanti Bohara of Bayalpata. The 31 years old is one of the hundreds of women who have been taking classes in the Farmer Business School program supported by ICCO Cooperation in Achham. Rewanti cultivates two ropani of land growing beans, tomatoes, cauliflowers, eggplants, potatoes and chilies.
Through the FBS classes, she has learnt the basics of modern farming, she says. While she grew vegetables earlier, she followed traditional methods. Now she can teach others all about offseason farming, crop rotation, the right way to plant seeds, how to pluck the vegetables, etc.
Rewanti Bohara
The program also links farmers directly to vegetable vendors which removes the need for farmers to go around looking for customers. She says, “Before I joined the program, the vegetables I grew were primarily used at home. Sometimes, I would sell some by going to different markets but there was no guarantee of how much I would sell and earn.”
The land is far away from the water source, so Rewanti carries water from the nearest well and painstakingly waters each plant. But the last agricultural season has been particularly rewarding for her.
“I started selling vegetables from the last week of August. I earned Rs 65,000 in two months,” she says.
The mother of three children, Rewanti adds that the money she makes from selling vegetables is very helpful to pay for her children’s school fees as well as daily household expenses. She also puts aside a little money each month for rainy days – Rs 100 each in three different cooperatives and Rs 20 in a women’s group.
Rewanti is one to dream big. She is now encouraged to start goat farming. She says, “I started with three goats and when the female died leaving the kid behind, I used to wake up at odd hours to nurse it.”
She has applied for a loan of Rs 80,000 from a local cooperative with which she plans to buy nine goats.
