If you are wondering what situations our women find themselves in and why they need help then read on. This is the story of a new woman who has just been referred to us, it is in her own words:
I am 35 yrs old. I used to live in a village along with my son, daughter and husband. We were farmer and my husband was carpenter but unfortunately my husband had suffered from throat cancer. We took lots of loan from villagers and brought him to Kathmandu for his treatment, but it was too late and he took rest in the Lord. Because of my poverty my sister in law took my daughter with her for her bright future.
When I was in miserable condition one of the bad man misbehaved me and he had rapped me. Then I could not able to faced out to the villagers, he destroyed not only my life but entire my family social life.
In our society what ever be the matter the villagers had blamed women they accused me characterless women and locked me at my house, my brother in law took my son along with him then I was completely alone. I did not have any other alternative so I got forcefully married with the same man who raped me. My stories doesn’t end here after marriage, I had got one daughter from him. I had got physically and mentally torture from my new husband and my in laws. It was intolerable to me so I ran away from their and I divorce him and settle to the my new life along with my daughter. I started to work as a maid to earn my livelihood. Still my life is going on sorrow and pain.
Please pray for me.
We are pleased that Subhadra, one of the women we currently support and herself a single mother, will be joining Bina in Nepal as her new assistant. She will help with running errands and visiting and encouraging the other ladies we support.
Subhadra has been a single mother for a long time, her husband didn’t bother to come and pick her up from the hospital after she gave birth to her daughter!
Subhadra’s daughter is now about 19 years old and is studying to be a nurse in Tansen at a mission hospital. Subhadra was incredibly proud of her and showed me a beautiful photo of her daughter looking very smart in a nurse’s uniform. Subhadra herself seemed like a wise Christian woman and very thankful for how WWR had helped her.
We thought all this experince and success would be great for some of our younger and newly-single mothers to hear and sensed that Subhadra would be a good support to them. We will employ her to visit the women when Bina is busy and deliver items or small amounts of money to them as need be, we hope she will pray with them too.
If you have a spare 25 minutes please make time to watch the latest edition of Unreported World on Channel 4, it is available to view at the ’4On Demand’ website for the next 27 days (until 13th December 2009). I warn you though, it will make you cry.
The presenter Yemi Ipaye visits a number of child widows living in the South-West of the country. Their situations are desperate. One girl was married at 11 and widowed at 13. She was married off at a young age because the dowry paid by the parents is less the younger the bride is. Now she is viewed as a burden by her parents who beat and verbally abuse her; she will not be married again as she is now perceived as being bad luck and is blamed for the death of her husband. Like many widows she may need to resort to prostitution to provide for herself.
The Hindu belief in reincarnation makes it clear that bad luck in this life is determined by past sins in a previous life. Therefore young widows are ostracised by society and insulted, they are treated as if they were evil and are isolated and become the ‘living dead’, the title of the program. In the past in Nepal sati was practiced. This is the ritual suicide of a wife when her husband dies. It was carried out by the widow climbing onto the funeral pyre of her husband and burning alive. The practice was outlawed across Nepal and India a century ago but the prejudice and stigma that enforced it remains today. It seems that a widow’s life is worth nothing.
A widow in Kathmandu described how she had been asked to leave her home when her landlord discovered she was a widow. Now she no longer tells anyone, simply lying that her husband is working overseas. She is impoverished and has had to send her two children to an orphanage because she can not look after them.
Women Without Roofs supports women that are on their own either because they are widowed or their husband is missing. Please help us to help more women like these.
Renée, one of our trustees, and her husband Terry recently returned from a trip to Nepal. Renée writes:-
It was good to be back in Nepal again, this time based mainly in Kathmandu. At the best of times, general day to day living is not easy for the Nepali people and currently there is electric for only eight hours out of a twenty four hour period (2x4hr stretches) This is due to a lack of rain to feed the hydro electric plants. The electric frequently comes on at midnight or four in the morning! As it it dark around 6.30pm, people have to cook the main meal of the day (rice & lentils) by candlelight and spend the rest of the evening in the dark. There is no-one who is not affected. Shops (open till late) can hardly see what they are selling. Tailors (of which there are many) cannot see to sew at night and cannot use their sewing machines by day. Offices cannot function and so it goes on …..
We spent a good deal of time visiting the ladies supported by Women Without Roofs (WWR). All are so very grateful for thehelp given to them by WWR, which has of course, come from you, our supporters. The ladies have tragic stories to tell. One lady had fallen into a fire as a child and never received treatment. Eventually she was given away in an arranged marriage, her husband then left her because of her deformed body. A second lady cares for her disabled husband, who cannot move, due to a fall from a high scaffolding. He lies in bed almost all of the time. Everything is done for him. They live in a small sparse room which works as a kitchen, bedroom and place to sit.
The rooms WWR provide are basic with limited facilities. I have to be honest about that. We ensure the women have the essential items i.e. a bed, blankets, gas stove, a bag of rice, saucepans and other essential items. By standards here in the Western world, it is poor. In reality, it is the level of how most Nepalis live. I have to remind myself of this over and over again. I would love to be able to pick all the ladies up and transform their lives completely, but I know, as you do, that is not possible.
Laxmi - preparing food in her room
How then, can I continue to help these women? I will continue working hard on their behalf, throw myself into fundraising, keep in touch via our assistant, Bina, in Kathmandu, try to inspire people in our country. An article in a womens magazine is soon to be published. Many of us still have so much in spite of our “credit crunch”; that’s not wrong, its how it is here in the UK. I feel sure if you were able to experience life in a third world country you also would be stirred.
So finally, may I express my heartfelt thanks to all our supporters. Without you there would be no WWR and many people would be living on the streets or under plastic sheeting. God Bless you all for your love and care. Please get back to me if you would like more first hand information.
We are growing all the time and take on the support of new women frequently. This is the moving story of the latest woman we have taken on:
She has three children aged 15,13 and 10. They are originally from Rolpa. They came to Kathmandu 7 years ago. Her husband went to Malaysia for work and after a few months he was sick and was supposed to return to Nepal. But he did not come back and was not in Malaysia. She asked her husband’s friend where he was and they told her that he had already come back to Nepal. But he has not arrived. So she has lost her husband, since then she has done household work to survive. She has to work at 4 houses. At one house, they lost their 10 tola (tola is a Nepali measurment) gold worth Rs 250,000 (approx £2000). It was blamed on her. They beat her and took her to the police station. She said she did not take the gold. The policeman also did not get any proof. Then the other 3 houses also did not give her work, so nowadays she does not have work. She has been unable to pay her rent too. She is a Christian.
Please help us to support women in these dreadful situations either by making a one-off donation or, even better, by sponsoring one of them for £10 per month. Please see the ‘Contact Us’ page for how to do this. Thank you.
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