New livelihood skills bringing fortune for ultra-poor

Ram Hari BK is 30-year-old young man who is from a small village called Keraghari of Kavre district which is in northern part of Nepal. He has become a role model in his community by turning the wheels of his fate through determination and hard work.

Three years ago, BK and his wife Dipika BK could hardly earn their daily bread and had to go to bed hungry most of the times.

Ram’s chicken farm in his own house

From that povertystricken situation, his family now has a home to stay, savings in a bank, a chicken farm. He said, “One day I heard about a training program on poultry farming and livestock arranged by Compassionate Hands For Nepal (CHFN). At that time, I was struggling with our financial condition and was looking for a way out so I decided to participate in the training, which ultimately was the turning point of my life”.

“Initially, I started with 200 chicks and necessary materials of chicken farming with the help of CHFN. But later, we added 600 chicks” he continued. “That was the beginning of something even bigger,” BK said in a happy note.

“We have a house made of stone and mud which was damaged by earthquake. But I started chicken farm in that house. Now we are planning to build an earthquake resistance house for we have some savings in bank and government subsidy”, said BK.

Like BK, more than 41 ultra-poor families in Keraghari have changed their fortune and now have the ability to maintain a decent life and can afford education for their children.

Local ward chairman (people representative of local government) Bal Krishna Sapkota said that it is responsibility of government to uplift the lives of ultra-poor and CHFN is also complementing government by making its best efforts to uplift the lives of ultra-poor people. “Penetrating the spirit of selfdevelopment is the key thing to change anyone’s life. That’s what CHFN is doing in collaboration with the government,” Sapkota said.

About the project, Shanta Kumar Bhandari, Project manager Humanitarian Relief Project (HRP) of CHFN, said in line with the government’s poverty eradication target, CHFN is running a project to eradicate poverty.

“Under the project, we are working for livelihood, WaSH and health nutrition development with the ultra-poor segment of the community. We generally provide training and technical support to the ultra-poor people and set link with the local government office,” he added.