Badam Bhandari

My name is Badam Bhandari and joined my local women’s group, supported by Foundation Nepal, at the end of 2008.

My name is Badam Bhandari, and I live in Thehe village in the district of Humla, Nepal.  I am 30 years old, and had an arranged marriage when I was 17.  I have five children, two sons (9 and 7 years old) and three daughters (11, 6 and 3 years old).  My three older children go to school.  We have 1.25 acres of land high in the mountains.  Like most women, I work on average 16 hours per day, rising at 5am each morning and working until 9pm at night with no rest during the day, doing all of the farm work, cooking, cleaning, washing clothes by hand, carrying water, minding the children, and weaving.  We produce millet, barley, chino, wheat and potatoes which is enough for 4 months of the year of my family’s needs.  My husband works as a porter which earns about €100-€120 per year, and I also earn money from the work I do with Foundation Nepal, and with this money we can buy enough food to feed the children for the rest of the year.  Last year I earned €390 from my work with Foundation Nepal, which has had a huge impact on our life.

I joined my local women’s group, supported by Foundation Nepal, at the end of 2008. I have since taken the six month literacy training course, and now I can sign my own name, which I am very proud of.  I have also learned about the need to wash my children’s hands before eating, getting adequate rest and ante-natal check-ups during pregnancy, and that a clean house and village can prevent diarrhea and other diseases.  In 2009, I started agri-business activities supported by Foundation Nepal, and started to grow a range of vegetables, and earned nearly €170 in that first year.  In 2010, I earned €390 from selling my vegetables in the market, and on top of that, my family ate about 20-25% of what I grew.  I think my children are healthier as a result and this year, none of them have suffered from diarrhea, which is the first year that this has happened.  Many children in my village suffer and die from diarrhea.  As well as being trained in how to grow a wide range of different vegetables, we have also been trained by Foundation Nepal in how to build a permaculture shed.  Foundation Nepal has also provided me and the other women with seeds, pipe, plastic sheeting for the permaculture sheds and watering equipment.  Foundation Nepal has also trained up the senior members of my women’s group in savings and credit management, and I save 25R per month with my women’s group, and I can take a loan if I need one.  This means that if my family has an unexpected problem, we have savings which we can rely on to help us through a difficult time.  Before this, I could not save or have access to credit in my village.