By Lucky K Chhetri | Executive Director
Bom grew up in Jelbang Khiwang, a small village in Sunchhahari Rural Municipality-7 in the remote hills of Rolpa District, Nepal. Her family lived off depending on their small farm for food and earned. There were five of them: her parents, Bema, and her two younger sisters.
When she was about twelve or thirteen, a stone struck her father and broke his back, which left disabled and with him unable to work, money became even tighter. Bom still managed to continue in school until grade 8, though it meant walking two hours just to get there.
In 2012, following village custom, she married. Their first daughter was born in January 2013, and a second came two years later. Those were good years for the family.
Then one day her husband fell from a cliff and died. Their younger daughter was only four then. Bom was suddenly a widow and the only provider for two small girls, and she had little time to grieve. Her brother-in-law made things harder by blaming her for her husband’s death. The house was in poor condition, and every day was a struggle to feed and raise her children.
She moved back to her parents’ home and left the girls in their care. Then, to pay for their food and schooling, she went to India to look for work. It was not easy. She carried loads of 80 to 90 kilograms, day after day. Two years passed, hard and sad but with some small joys too, and then she returned to Nepal.
A Facebook friend told her about Empowering Women of Nepal (EWN), and EWN gave her the chance to join its Female Trekking Guide training. Bom is now taking English conversation classes and doing on-the-job training through a paid apprenticeship. She sees it as a real opportunity to find a decent job. She said that she has learned a lot from the training and wants to keep learning. Most of all, she hopes to become an independent, strong woman who can give her daughters a better life.
By Lucky K Chhetri | Chief Executive
By Lucky K Chhetri | Chief Executive
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