Providing for your family as a single mother in Nepal can be incredibly challenging.
Mithalesh Kurmi has found new confidence and resilience by joining an INF Self-Help Group that has supported her to build a business so she can provide for her family independently.
At age 30 Mithalesh found herself parenting her four-year-old and eight-year-old alone. Her husband had been travelling to India for work and sending money home. Three years ago he stopped returning to Nepal and the money disappeared as well.
Mithalesh was left not knowing whether her husband was alive but she knew she had to provide for her children. The INF Self-Help Group in Maharajung, Kapilvastu District, she had joined four years earlier agreed to invest in Mithalesh and her family’s future. Almost a decade earlier she had had a small business selling sweets and cigarettes. INF gave Mithalesh 10,000 rupees to get her shop up and running again. She expanded her product range and two years on the business is growing well and makes enough to provide for her family’s needs.
Mithalesh credits the Self-Help Group for giving her the confidence to rebuild her life. On her small piece of land she harvests enough food for the family and combined with her business that brings about 1,200 rupees a month she looks to the future with real hope. She is now able to invest a small amount each month for her children’s education.
Mithalesh is thankful to her community and the INF Self-Help Group for bringing fullness of life.
Self-Help Groups play a key role in INF’s Community Health and Development work across hundreds of communities in Western Nepal.