“Skill training and Seed-Fund Support helps young woman (separated from husband) to become self-employed”

Nilam Gurung was only eighteen years of age when she decided to get married to her fellow class mate from a different caste. While she was deeply in love with her husband when they got married, she slowly started to realize that her husband had a drinking problem which started creating distance between them. On top of that, she was constantly verbally abused by her in-laws who were never happy with the inter-caste marriage. In less than three years of their marriage, Nilam’s husband moved to another district and got married to another woman there. With no income of her own and no support from her husband’s family, she decided to file for a divorce and moved back to live in her parents’ home with her son. At present, Nilam lives in her parents’ home with her parents, her younger brother, and her son.

Soon after moving back to her parents’ home, Nilam started to feel like her life was heading nowhere. She had deep regrets for having gotten married against her parents’ wishes and said she had failed to fulfil her responsibility as the eldest child to look after them. When Nilam heard of the mushroom farming training being conducted by UN Women and MTSDI in her local area through a friend, she discussed about joining the training with her mother. Nilam’s mother encouraged her to apply for it and she was elated when she got selected for the training. When Nilam was participating in the skill training, her divorce papers were also finalized and she had gotten full custody of her son. Nilam was now more determined than ever to start her enterprise and to look after her family.

As she was making preparations to start her mushroom farm, the COVID-19 pandemic struck and started affecting her community adversely. She had plans to start her business after the lockdown but the little savings that her family had was spent co cope up with the pandemic. In the month of Bhadra (September), Nilam recalls the Itahari FM radio had made an announcement about how UN Women and MTSDI are supporting their trained participants who want to establish their business. Not being able to remember the number announced on the radio show, she called MTSDI focal person in Sunsari district to find out more about it. She found out about the seed-fund support provisioned for women and expressed her interest to apply for it. She explained how MTSDI Sunsari team then visited her house to talk to her parents about the opportunities and challenges in starting this enterprise. The MTSDI Sunsari team also advised Nilam to start the mushroom farming in her home itself. Soon, Nilam went to the ward office and registered her business as “Nilam Mushroom Udhyog”. Nilam happily says that after receiving the seed-fund support, she has already harvested mushroom worth ten big packets to sell in the market. She is not at all worried about finding the market for her mushrooms as she knows that there is a great demand for mushrooms in her local Haat (local) market which takes place every Friday and Saturday. She shares that she will soon be able to sell the mushrooms for NPR200-NPR 300 per kilogram in the market. In the near future, she also wishes to sell her products in Biratnagar market which is only half an hour away from her village.

Nilam is extremely thankful to having gotten the skill training as well as seed-fund support during such uncertain times which has helped to kick start her business. She says, “Though I made some mistakes when I was younger, UN Women and MTSDI’s support has helped me get my life back on track. I am hopeful I will now be able to give proper education to my son and also be able to look after my .” Nilam is optimistic that gaining financial independence will help her change the perception that the society tends to have towards divorcee and single mother like herself. She says the training has not just given her the skills but given her the motivation and confidence that she previously needed to move forward in life.