20 young women dressed in purple reached Manavseva Ashram in Pokhara's Chorepatan on Friday. The hands and feet of the women rescued from the road were cleaned in the ashram. Cut the nails. Hair done. After 'manicure, pedicure and hair cut', the mother of Manavseva Ashram looked cheerful.

The trainees who are undergoing assistant beautician training with the support of Pokhara Metropolitan Municipality have reached the Human Services Ashram. They were training at Dream Beauty Home and Training Center in Virouta and reached the ashram at the end of three months of training. Adorned women who have lost mental balance, have a dull state of mind and are helpless. The mothers of the ashram were shocked to get a manicure, pedicure and haircut.  Shanta Lamichhane, owner and trainer of

training center, celebrated her birthday at the ashram. She also helped the women with necessary sanitary pads, hygiene materials, and mid-day meals. "The ashram receives food and clothing support," she said.

The ashram opened in Chorepatan as the ninth branch on Chait 17, 2074, had women and men dependents. From August 13, 2007, only women have been kept. The man has been transferred to Pokhara's Hemza branch. According to a dedicated activist who is looking after the management of the ashram, Yadhan Gartaula, there are currently 80 women and 10 children in Chorepatan between the ages of 25 and 85. Some children came to the ashram with their mothers and some were born in the ashram. "When women and men were kept together, even those who had problems had to be separated," she said.

Ashrams in Pokhara are currently rescued from Kaski, Tanahun, Syangja, and Myagdi. There are 140 male dependents in the Hemja branch. The ashram has its own branches in Gorkha, Lamjung and Baglung. An ashram is running in a rented house in Chorepatan, while it has its own building in Hemja. Gandaki province declared road free province in financial year 078/079. 

Beauty work to become self-sufficient

With the support of Business Promotion Center of Pokhara Metropolitan City, 20 people are currently taking assistant beautician training . Beauticians Sunita Gurung and Shanta Lamichhane are training at Dream Beauty Home and Training Center.

Trainer Gurung said that the metropolis provided training to selected women with poor economic conditions. According to him, 390 hours of training is conducted for 65 days. "This is the basic training to become a beautician," she said. She said that beauticians come from Butwal, Kathmandu, Chitwan and other cities to take training in Pokhara. "There are expert and experienced beauticians in Pokhara, that's why it is preferred by those who take the training," she said. 

Pokhara-17 18-year-old Raksha Khand of Mustang Chowk is undergoing beautician training. A popular versatile campus graduate studying in the first year, she had an interest in beauty since childhood. She said that after the business promotion center of the metropolis requested an application for participation in the training, she took advantage of that opportunity. "I used to be curious about makeup products, now I have come to learn," she said.