Bhim Maya Limbu, 53 lives with her family of five; her husband, son, daughter-in-law, and her two-year-old granddaughter at Dhansar village of Belkotgadhi Municipality, Nuwakot district. A former migrant worker in Kuwait, she sent home her savings to purchase a piece of land at Dhansar village. Her family cultivated crops and vegetables in the land and it was their primary source of income.
After MCA-Nepal acquired their land for the construction of Ratmate Substation in Nuwakot district, the family had to vacate their land and relocate nearby with the compensation amount against their land. Soon after, Bhim Maya returned to Nepal.
When MCA-Nepal launched its Livelihood Restoration Program (LRP) to improve the livelihoods of affected people, Bhim Maya enrolled into the program to explore new avenues to generate income for her family and expressed her desire to be trained in Dhaka weaving. She had some prior knowledge of the craft and wanted to acquire additional skills to start her own business.
Initially, her husband did not allow her to participate in the training and neither did he support her idea to start a business. Despite this, she joined the two-month training in Dhaka weaving and successfully completed it.
Seeing her commitment and interest, her training was extended for an additional month. Once the training was over, she utilized the funds received from the compensation money to purchase a Dhaka weaving machine and some necessary raw materials. With a machine at home, she started to weave Dhaka full time to develop various products at scale and sell it at a good price.
She is now motivated to extend her enterprise. She hopes to use the profit generated by her business to add more Dhaka weaving machines and increase job opportunities for other local people imparting her skills.
Bhim Maya is grateful for the business opportunity and acknowledges MCA-Nepal’s support which helped hone her skills and evolve into an entrepreneur. She says, “Had I not received this training, I would have probably gone abroad to work again as any other migrant worker.”
The LRP is an integral component of MCA-Nepal’s resettlement action plan based on international standards to ensure improved means of livelihood for physically and economically displaced people.
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