From its painted sunsets to the intensely hued spices of its markets, Nepal is a country of color.
Pabanbati Chaudhary, 55, embodies the kaleidoscope of her homeland. Her fingers are stained a vibrant hot pink, the mark of her craft. Her sari — Nepalese traditional dress — is a beautiful shade of turquoise. Even her spirit seems to radiate color, as if joy had a shade.
If you had visited her four years ago, however, the colors would have been dimmer, muted by her challenging circumstances. Providing for her family was an ongoing struggle. Nepal is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world and as a result, economic stability is a constant challenge.
Because of you, women in Nepal have brighter futures (and hands!)
Pabanbati and her neighbors took matters into their own hands. They began crafting mats to sell, fashioning them from wild bulrushes gathered from the wild. These mats served a variety of purposes, from sleeping and sitting to drying seeds.
But without the necessary skills or knowledge, their efforts yielded little success. Meager offers resulted in financial losses, and limited sales made it challenging to feed their families and educate their children. In times of health crises, they were forced to borrow money at exorbitant rates.
Then your love arrived.
Pabanbat is one of 28 women who received transformative training.
Your compassion provided much-needed training, teaching the women how to make higher quality mats with colorful patterns. By learning the importance of fixed pricing and how to determine it, the women now make 300% more per mat sold than before.
Pabanbati was able to build a new brick and concrete house, transforming her previous house — a small, shed-like structure — into her workshop. Her children are educated and she’s saving monthly for future emergencies. And she’s gained confidence. In a country that often confines women's work to the home, your support is changing perceptions.
“We couldn't even converse with people,” she says. “But now, we can greet or talk to others comfortably. We learned a lot from this. We can make more improvements if given the opportunity.”
Thanks to you, Pabanbati's future — and that of her children — now shines as brightly as the colors of her beloved country.
