Indrawati Bhar has been unable to walk since she was diagnosed with polio as a toddler. She married a man born without his left arm and together they have had four children. People with disabilities in Nepal often face discrimination and finding employment can be challenging. An INF Self-Help Group has helped Indrawati train as a seamstress and establish her own successful sewing business. This is her story…
As a toddler, Indrawati’s parents took her to several doctors before she was finally diagnosed with polio and began receiving treatment. Unfortunately her condition had already seriously progressed; she had no feeling in her right leg and was therefore unable to walk. Many years later she married a man who also has a disability, her husband was born without an arm. He has been working in a bicycle maintenance shop in their village but his income alone is not enough to fully support their family of six.
An INF community mobiliser in Kapilvastu Maharajgunj village invited Indrawati and her husband to join a local Self-Help Group. Last year Indrawati began discussing with the group ways she could earn money. INF was able to organize three months of training as a seamstress. Indrawati learnt how to make and mend clothing, and was subsequently given a sewing machine to work from home.
Over the past twelve months Indrawati has successfully run her sewing business from her own home. Together with her husband’s income, they can now fully provide for their family.
“Self-Help Groups play a key role in INF’s Community Health and Development work across hundreds of communities in Western Nepal.”