True possessions

Published07 June 2019

Reading Time 2 mins

Author Stories of Nepal

Location Nepal

"I send these two to the nearby government school. I am not sure if there was one when I was their age. No one mentioned school around here back then. I do not think my father’s mind could understand the concept of education. So he told me to look after the kitchen, the animals and my brothers. And that is what I did. You do not question your father. By the age of 10, I had already started working alongside father in the landlord's field. By 15, I was already working alone and contributing to the family in whatever way I could. Back then, even after working 16 hours a day, I never saw money. I only brought back grains, whatever the rich and upper caste gave me. I got married into the same community so life did not see any change that one would expect. The only difference was I was not living with my father and mother but with my husband’s. Even today, I still continue working for daily wages but work is very limited. They two keep me busy with their demands for food and clothing and I spend my day tending to them. My husband is also a daily wage earner and he owns very little. No gold, no land. For both of us, our children are our possession and we try to save as much as we can. But sometimes the son get sicks and we have to dig into our savings. Sometimes, the flood comes in, the wall falls down and our savings return to nothing."

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