History and context of the situation

Durga Joshi is 22 years old. She is from Attariya, Dhangadi and is married. Her mother died when she was 3 years old and her father committed suicide when she was 11. Since then she started staying at her mother’s maternal home (Mamaghar), Gulariya. She has completed her lower secondary level of education. She was married at the age of 13. Currently, she has two sons, one is 7 years old and the other is 1 year old. She has 8 members in her family; a mother in law, a father in law, two younger sisters in law, her husband, her two children and herself. After two months of marriage, her husband started abusing her. In spite of being abused, she worked in a cooperative for four years. Along with husband, her father and mother in laws use to bully and torture her. Her younger sisters in laws use to create misunderstanding against her among her husband, and mother in law. At the time of her second pregnancy, her husband left her alone and went India blaming her that she cheated him and that was not his baby; then he stopped contacting her. She was also forcefully thrown out of her home. She stayed in a rented house. But even there, her in laws forced the landlord to throw her out. Later, she decided to do her own. She decided to travel Kathmandu, do hardships, improve her livelihood and grow her children properly. She sold some ornaments of her son and with that money, she managed to travel Kathmandu. After she arrived Kalanki, she met a man selling vegetables; with whom she asked 500l- Rupees to start a small business (Chanachatpat Gaada). That man brought her to Women Police Cell. From there, she was referred to an organization called ‘Saathi’ on Jestha 17, 2074. She stayed in Saathi, where she was told to bring her citizenship and birth certificates of her children in order to put them in hostel. She then, came to our organization, Biswas Nepal to attend few life skill trainings, where she also met a counselor. The counselor then assessed her need for emotional support, legal support and economic support.

Situation of the problem:

At a very early age, she had to face the grief of losing her parents. She had to marry during her childhood. She went through abuse, domestic violence and marital rape which further led to economic and legal problems. All those problems led her to psychological disturbances, isolation and helplessness. A case was filed against her for running away from home by stealing 2 Lakhs amount of rupees and golden ornament, the next day she arrived Kathmandu. All her academic documents, citizenship and birth certificates of her children were taken and burnt by her in laws which led her to severe stress.

Project initiative:

She participated on various life skills, legal and business support trainings, through which she closely came to learn more about Biswas Nepal and its services. She attended counseling sessions regularly as planned. All the counseling and trainings session helped her to be self-confident and make decisions. She was empowered day by day. One day she decided to go her home and bring duplicate copies of all her legal documents and birth certificates of her children. Biswas Nepal provided some financial support for her travel to Dhangadi.

Successful outcomes/ results:

All the training and counseling sessions provided to her motivated her to fight for her rights. She developed self-belief and self-confidence within herself. She didn’t hesitate to speak up with people. She gained knowledge regarding various legal matters. She succeeded to travel back to her home place, fight with her in laws and community, take support from the security personnel and receive all the duplicate copies of her citizenship and birth certificates of her children within a week. Not only that, she succeeded to file complaint against her in laws for burning her citizenship and birth certificates of her children. In addition to that; she succeeded to come out from the case that was file against her and instead filed a case upon her family for giving wrong complaint against her. She also succeeded to receive charge of amount 15,000/- Rupees from her in laws for burning all her related legal documents. At the moment, she is back to Sathi and is attending follow up sessions with her counselor at Biswas Nepal.

How are results meaningful?

The results have been very meaningful because we are not only successful to bring transformation in her problems but also in her life. Our continuous sessions and support helped her to be self-dependent and self-confident. She succeeded to fight with her greatest fear. She succeeded to fight for her rights and punish to those who are actually culprits. Last but not the least, her happiness and satisfaction for visiting Biswas Nepal and for accepting our guidance, have made the outcomes more meaningful.