Following is part of a recent update from the Mitra Foundation in Nepal. In her own words, Mercy gives a very personal look into the life of a Nepali woman going through the free Sewing Training Program. Operation-Impact has been supporting these free Mitra Foundation programs by raising funds in the US. If you want to help, you can use the donation links at the bottom to give to this program.
The story of Mercy…
My name is Mercy. I am 27 years old. I am married and have a daughter of 4 years. I was born in East Nepal and came to this place after I got married. I am from the Limbu community and came here in a different tribe called Tamang. I don’t know the local Tamang language/dialect, but we speak common Nepali.
My husband was working for many years in Gulf countries [refers to migrant work in the Persian Gulf area, 2000 miles away from their home] for earning but came back home [this last trip] before few months without earning any money this time. In our village all the women are unemployed, but they do some small household work and do some seasonal farming, but that is not sufficient to run their houses and send their children to schools.
Some of the women went to the city nearby to earn money, but many of them damaged their life due to bad habits/company as they were far from their family members. As they grew desperate, they got involved in prostitution and other illegal activities.
This is when I heard from our Ward Chairperson that Mitra Foundation is starting the sewing skills training which is free of cost to us due to generous sponsors. I hurriedly visited them to enroll my name and. later I started the training.
I am learning very well as our trainer is very active and teaches us well. My husband is still planning to go to the gulf area again to earn some money for our family, but I am building up my confidence on skill training and will do something with the sewing business.to greatly help. I am discussing with my husband on why not we do something with local business in our own place with family members to stay together. He is being convinced slowly.
After completing this training, I am planning to start a local business to stitch clothes and sell some additional materials with sewing machines and hand stitching. We are really thankful to Mitra Foundation because we have sewing training free of cost.
Including me, 29 women will have sewing skills soon.
Thank You!
You can help Operation-Impact support the Nepal Sewing Program by sponsoring a woman with a short-term scholarship below or Give a One-Time Gift (click this link):