28-year-old Ganga Chettri is a single mother of a 7-year-old girl living in Lele, Lalitpur. Four years ago, Ganga was living with her husband and daughter at Illam but one day out of the blue the father left the family. Although her husband left without any notice, Ganga has a suspicion that he left the family for another woman. So, after this devastating incident, she left Illam and came back to live with her parents in Lamedadha, Lele.
After coming back home, Ganga started living with her old parents. She felt like she was a burden to the family when she could not provide financial aid to her parents. Ganga Chettri worked on different odd jobs for money but wasn’t able to continue them for a long time. Once working for a marketing company for herbal products other staffs harassed Ganga for being a single mother, blaming her for her husband’s disappearance. This devastated her and she quit her job there so, after this incident she planned on owning her business and working in her own terms and being a helping hand in the family for the sake of her parents and her daughter.
Fortunately, Ganga’s family was selected as one of the families for the SEED project and since then life has taken a turn for her. Firstly, the educational expenses of Gungun were taken care for by the project’s Educational Assistance and her financial burden was somewhat reduced. And after few trainings for her IGA Ganga opted to open a tailoring shop. Having honed her sewing skills while growing up, stitching clothes for her family and neighbors, and even working part-time in a tailoring shop, this business seemed like the perfect fit for her.
With support from CHFN (name of the supporting organization), Ganga received sewing machines, fabrics, and signboards for her shop. In June 2022, she launched her tailoring business, which has since thrived. As of now her tailoring shop has gained quite a notoriety with the women in her community, because of her skill to make kurtha, surwal, lehenga and other traditional women’s clothes her shop has been the go-to shop for sewing women’s clothing. Now she is able to look after her daughter’s educational expenses and was able to look after her parents too.
Reflecting on her experience with the SEED project, Ganga expresses her gratitude, stating, “Before joining the program, I felt ashamed that I had to rely on my parents in their old age. However, with the support provided for Gungun’s education and the opportunity to open my own shop, I can now walk confidently in my community. My parents are proud of me for taking care of them and standing on my own two feet. I am truly grateful to CHFN for the support and compassion offered during a challenging period in our family’s life. From the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank them.”