Empower Feed Educate Single mother headed families

Family of the month: January, 2023
(Rita: Name Changed) Nepali Family (admitted in January 2023)     

Single mother:       (Rita: Name Changed, Aged 27

Beneficiaries:           (Rima: Name Changed), 8 years old daughter                             

Narrative:
(Rita: Name Changed) was born to poor, landless parents in a village on the outskirts of Pokhara valley. Both her parents were illiterate day-laborers and the family of five could barely survive with the revenues of the parents. Her older brothers joined Government school but (Rita: Name Changed) had to drop out at the age of 11, as she was forced to do the household-cores while her parents were working.

There was always food scarcity and (Rita: Name Changed) and her mother would eat the leftovers once the males in the family had their meal. Until today this is still a sad and utterly discriminating reality amongst the poor in Nepal.

At the age of 17 (Rita: Name Changed) fell in love with 19 year old (Raju: Name Changed) and they got married. Her parents did not consent to this and from this day (Rita: Name Changed) was ostracized from her family. Life with her in-laws was difficult and ends never met. (Raju: Name Changed) found occasional jobs as a construction worker and (Rita: Name Changed) worked temporarily in a garment factory.

 In the year 2015, in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that struck Nepal, (Rita: Name Changed) gave birth to a healthy baby-girl named (Rima: Name Changed).

2020/21, the years of the covid-pandemic were particularly difficult for the millions of the poorest people in Nepal, who found themselves without work and many died from the additional hardship imposed by the lockdowns.

In the year 2022, with the end of the pandemic, there was hope on the horizon for a new beginning and the young couple decided to move to Pokhara in search for a better life. But faith would have it otherwise!  

In September 2022 (Raju: Name Changed) was killed in a road-accident and for (Rita: Name Changed) and (Rima: Name Changed) this was the beginning of a terrible ordeal. Her in-law’s blamed her for the demise of their son which is common amongst the uneducated people, no matter what the cause of death has been.!?

This is one of the reasons why the suicide rate amongst young widow in Nepal is alarmingly high.

Not so long ago, “Sati” an ancient Hindu ritual of burning a widow on her husband’s funeral pyre was common practice. Although Sati has been banned all over Nepal, it has a dark history.

The young widow and her little girl were terrorized to such an extent, that (Rita: Name Changed) had no other choice but to leave.

She and her little girl ended up in Pokhara, begging for food in the streets and this in the cold winter 2022.

A social worker who became aware of (Rita: Name Changed) and the misery that she was facing, referred her to the “Bahini-EduCare-Foundation” in December 2022 and given the emergency of this case, we decided to admit them as new “EduCare-Family” with immediate effect.

From now on we will provide for them and care for them and we will make sure that they are safe, and that their basic needs are covered.

But more than this, we will educate them and provide livelihood-skill training to the mother in our aim to lead them to self-sufficiency and independence.

For them, our help is making all the difference and from now on, they will live in safety and dignity!

Its’ simple, it’s simply BEF!

With kind regards,

Surendra, Raymond & TEAM
Bahini EduCare Foundation