Of late, they have set up a cyber café and communication center in Bijaya Chowk of Gaindakot. They had been providing telephone and fax services for the past three years. With eight computers now, they have also been offering basic computer training programs to children of single women at 50 per cent discount rate. They charge Rs 1,000 per student.
On February 26 in 2005, more than two hundred single women clad in red had taken out a rally in Gaindakot as a symbolic rebellion against the orthodox society that forced them wear white attires and accessories after their husbands died. Twenty-five of the women later formed Women Welfare Advocacy Forum.
The idea to empower single women seems to have finally materialized under the initiation of the forum. “We are planning to use the profits generated from the cyber café and communication center to help other single women start their own enterprise,” Madhavi Kattel, president of the forum, said.
According to Kattel, the proceeds from the cyber and communication center - which is around Rs 15,000 per month -- is being collected in the forum´s fund. Kattel opined that income-generation programs would enable single women to fight social ills.
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