Case Study

Better than Before

Change for good is necessary in every society and when
the behaviour patterns and thinking of a society is based on hype or myths,
change becomes inevitable. And for those who are lacking formal education we
can educate them by providing appropriate knowledge and awareness. It is well
known for us that people with HIV within them have low self esteem and if the
infected ones are uneducated and belongs to a certain rural area then the
condition is even worse. That is why to help them live their life without any
regrets, stigma or any kind of discrimination we should focus on educating not
only the infected ones but whole society. So, these are the reasons we provide
them specialized trainings and awareness sessions time after time to make a
difference to the whole society. And we present our heartfelt thanks to our
promising donors who help us in doing so.

  The main
objective of ours is to encourage them to live an independent dignified life.
And we are very pleased that we are succeeding in doing so because there are
many women now we feel are breaking through the glass and maintaining an
independent dignified life. We can say that because we have witnessed the
change. Therefore, one of the woman who proved by doing so is Karishma
Magar(Name changed).

 Karishma Magar
when first came in our reach, she was very vulnerable and low self esteemed
woman. She couldn’t even speak with a normal voice. She wasn’t very outgoing.
She is from Rolpa district and was raised in a big family including her parents
and four siblings. Growing in a poor family didn’t give her a chance to go to
any school. She married at an early age of 15 with her own sister’s brother in
law. She saw many ups and downs in her life; sadly more of them were down sides
of the life. She wasn’t well treated by her in laws. Her husband went abroad to
earn money and even if he was present he was unwilling to speak up to the inhuman
behaviour she used to bear. In an addition to her pain and sorrow, her husband
married another woman. As a woman, it became suffocating to live with all of
them who never behaved her like human she only had an option to leave her home.
She once took her son to the hospital where she found out that her son was HIV
positive, she doubted herself too on being HIV positive and she was right about
herself too. She was left with no money for any treatment and was unwilling to
visit any doctor because she felt uncomfortable answering personal questions.

In between all of this, she met with a staff from Shakti
Milan Samaj where she knew about how Shakti Milan Samaj could help people like
her in getting the treatment. We make her participate in every kind of trainings
and sessions held in the organization specially SRHR trainings and other types
of capacity building Programs. Her participation made her aware and obtained
knowledge that helped her to grow her confidence and there is not much of a
difference in people with or without HIV. Also, she was supported through
Income generation support Program from which she has started her own vegetable.
Now, she earns sufficient income for her family. Nowadays also she is active
and she spreads knowledge on HIV to other people. She now was hoping to
something independent for herself and her kids.