"Now there is nothing else but to sell myself"

He was found in the crowd of microfinance victims gathered in Sifalchaur and came to Kathmandu looking for a salve for the wounds caused by the burden of debt. Kisun, who has never left home, came to Kathmandu for the first time in search of justice.

Even though he came to Kathmandu due to debt, now More than that, the pain is also on the condition of the daughter-in-law who is in the hospital after falling ill. After the interest of the loan from the bank doubled, the son started running away. Day after day, bank employees came and started mentally torturing the daughter-in-law of the housekeeper. "I can't pay the loan", the daughter-in-law got a bitter reply from the employee that "the loan will be paid only after death". On that day, Kisun's daughter-in-law hung herself on the rope to commit suicide. However, all the villagers saved him together.

Kisnu Ram

According to Kisun, the old man is shocked to see the condition of his daughter-in-law. "I have lost the strength to work", he says, "What should I do if I look at the situation of the family?" They came to Kathmandu with the dream of being debt free. "This old man died", he says, "but I don't want to die with debt."

Similarly, 76-year-old Phoolmatidevi Godhin of Parsa, who came to the movement, lost an ancestral land after getting into the cycle of microfinance bank loans. Since there is no more land to produce food crops, hunger has spread in his house . She says that even the remaining house will be auctioned. Two sons are unemployed. Even the old-age allowance that he will get is fine by paying the interest of the bank.

Phoolmati Devi

Phoolmati Devi heard the word Kathmandu in the village. She was the only one who understood that it was a 'big city'. The moment he came barefoot to the big city of Kathmandu for the first time, he had the saddest feeling of his life. Sitting next to Pashupatinath, there is a small hope that happiness will come soon after her sorrow is removed . So she turns towards the temple of Pashupatinath and calls out . She says, 'O Nath, take away the sorrow.' But she herself does not know that the government should listen to her innocent cries rather than Pashupatinath. However, she is walking in the movement with the help of a stick.

Surkhet, Chhinchu-73 years old Amar Bahadur Magar spent his youth in India. He raised 7 children without debt by doing the same job. His dream of living free in his old age turned out to be the opposite. He took a loan of 5 lakh rupees from the bank for treatment after his grandson 's kidney failure, and the interest has reached 15 lakh rupees in 6 years . ``Paying debts or treating my grandson'', he says, ``Sadness that I did not experience in my youth, I have to experience in my old age.'' Walking from Narayanghat and coming to Kathmandu, he felt tired and exhausted. I have a fever. I am protesting by taking citamol .

Amar Bahadur Magar

Amar brought up 7 children without going into debt of one rupee. Sometimes farming and sometimes working in India, but raising children. "The time now is not like before," he says, "In our time, there was farming to eat food, now they neither cultivate nor produce." Now it is difficult for Amar to feed a family of 12 including grandchildren.

Like her, the story of Parsaki Bhukali Majhi of Pilsi in the grip of poverty is also romantic. 65-year-old Bhukali, a single woman, took a loan of 160,000 rupees from the bank saying that her son would go abroad and earn. She says that the broker stole all the money while coming to Kathmandu and running main power. In the end, when the broker said that she could not go abroad, Bhukli fell from a cliff. The interest on the same loan has skyrocketed now. At times, the loan does not decrease even when the interest is paid, including the amount of retirement allowance. "The son runs away, from where can I pay the debt as an old woman?", she says.

Bhukali Majhi

Similarly, 65-year-old Siratiya Musharni of Parsa has two or four goats and buffalo rearing. She has been running the household expenses by selling the same. When the employees of the bank, who were demanding interest, started to surround her son, she saved the money she had just borrowed and gave it. However, the interest on that loan is never paid . The bank turned a blind eye to the 11-year-old robbery. Siratia says, "Now there is nothing to sell other than being sold". This worry bothers him day and night.

Sirtia Musharani

She said that her two grandchildren came to Kathmandu to work in Kalilai due to poverty. Husband is ill. She has joined the movement and says that she will not return home if she does not get justice. "The banker who has gone home will not let me live," she says, "I will continue to fight here and there, until I get justice." Hundreds of victims who have been exploited by microfinance are demonstrating in the capital. They are living in Siphal Chaur of Kathmandu. They have been putting pressure on the government with the stance that they will not return home until the demand is met.

They demonstrated in Baluwatar area of ​​the capital along with Narazulu on Wednesday and Thursday. They have demanded that microfinances should be abolished, loans should be waived and so on.

Photos: Madhu Shahi and Prakashchandra Timilsena / Kantipur