”I started traveling the country for work from the age of 13”

After her father divorced her mother, a girl from Rolpa has come to Dolpa to work as a laborer to support the family.

Bhadra 8, 2082

Bisnu Gharti

”I started traveling the country for work from the age of 13”

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As farming is not enough, I go to different parts of the country to work. This time I have come to Tripurasundari-4 Ranga in Dolpa for work. Now I am seventeen years old. However, the responsibility of all household expenses is on my shoulders.

My house is in Gangadeo Rural Municipality-1, Otjawang, Rolpa. He has to take responsibility for the welfare of his mother and sisters at home. Mother is doing the housework . There are 9 people in the family . Seven of us are just brothers and sisters. I am from Saily Didi . There is one brother . We have 6 sisters . Two sisters are already married. A married sister also lives with us. 

Two years ago, my father got a divorce, so we are living with my mother at a relative's house . The father divorced the mother because she had too many daughters . Brother also lives separately after marriage. I had to move on my own because my brother didn't care about the family. I started working from the age of 13. At the age of 14, I went to Himachal Pradesh, India and worked. There was also apple packing. He could not rest there even for a moment. He sat down for a while and had to listen to the owner's chatter. However, there was a chance to learn the job .

This time it has been a week since Dolpa came to do apple packing. After contacting the contractor uncle, I came to Dolpa after two days. Now apple picking season is going on in Dolpa . So I got the job of grading apples and packing them in cartons . My sister has also come with me. Two sisters work from morning till evening. The contractor uncle has said that he will pay 800 rupees apart from one day's food . Dolpa district felt good. Natural beauty is temporary for us working people. 

Maybe my fate will be like this . Looking for a job, sometimes I reach somewhere . Now we have to celebrate Dashain festival and go to Kathmandu . There is work in the brick kiln. I once worked as a brick carrier in Kavre and Bhaktapur. The contractor who once worked on the road in Rolpa has not yet paid 50,000 wages. It's been exactly two years now . There will be more problems if we cheat the wage earners. Mother buys salt, oil, rice and clothes for my sister with the money I send.

My family's livelihood runs from my earnings. In addition, the responsibility of teaching my sister is also on my shoulders . My sister studies in class eight . Even though I can't study, I want to make my sister a big person, even if I endure any kind of suffering. I will send all his copy, pen, clothes, lunch expenses . Mother says - why do you go to work far away at such a young age, even if I am looking for a loan, I will take care of you . Mother has reached 50 years. At this age, how can I live with the burden of debt to my mother! That's why I go to different places to work without saying my strange place. 

When I go to different places during my work, many people ask me why I came to work at a reading age. That question pierces my heart. I would say that it is a necessity rather than a desire. I also like to go to school when I see my friends studying and writing in school . I like to read . Like others, if my father had been with us, if the financial situation of my family had been good, I would have been able to study . But despite having the heart to do everything, after being cheated by fate and karma, one does not understand anything.

Sometimes I feel like crying after seeing my situation. When my heart breaks, I sit alone and cry uncontrollably . I never cry in front of my mother when I am at home. I cry in solitude so that my mother will feel sorry for me. Because, if I cry in front of my mother, my mother will cry. That's why I always try to look happy in front of my mother.

Now even the dream of reading is gone . My happiness is the happiness of my family including my mother. I will not leave my mother and sisters and get married. Even if I do, I will marry them only after earning enough money for a few years.

presentation: Ramchandra Neupane

Bisnu

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