I have written of the story of a woman that I have come to know here at United Mission Hospital Tansen in Nepal. She shared her story so that it could be used in an annual printed publication that shares news about the hospital with worldwide supporters. I thought you might like to get to know her as well. You also get to hear about how great my job happens to be…I get to craft with women and men and support them in selling their goods. The other work I’m doing is all about teaching about and playing with kids who are healing (that is for another blog post). I really love being an occupational therapist!
Kumari is a strong young woman whose life has changed dramatically in the past two years. Kumari was two months pregnant when her husband, Dan Bahadur, was injured in a fall; a great joy and great pain sitting side by side in their lives. Their family now includes a beautiful 2 year-old son whom they cherish, but the fall caused a spinal cord injury and paralysis of Dan Bahadur’s legs.
Kumari and Dan Bahadur’s life together began with their arranged marriage. Kumari moved from her family home with her parents to her new husband and father’s home in the village. Kumari’s responsibilities are significant and have been increasing. She rises at 5 am each morning to start work around their home. She cooks all of the food and cleans and cares for the small farm including chickens and their cow. Kumari tends their small plot of land that provides their family vegetables. Like most families living in the village, they farm at a subsistence level; they do not make more than they are able to use themselves. Previously, Dan Bahadur worked as a driver and this income provided supplement to purchase what they couldn’t produce. Kumari works hard each day single-handedly caring for the home, her son, her husband and also her father-in-law who is elderly and is not able to do any work around the home.
When Dan Bahadur was first injured, the family went to a spinal cord injury centre in Kathmandu. There they learned basic skills related to life with a spinal cord injury. They were introduced to the wheelchairs, transfers and catheterization which have become a central part of their daily life. Unfortunately, they have also had to learn about wound care. Because of paralysis, Dan Bahadur does not have any feeling in his lower limbs. When staying in one position, so much pressure can be placed in one area that a sore develops. Because there is no signaling of pain, these wounds can become quite deep and are very hard to keep clean and heal. In this case, a wound developed from sitting in the wheelchair and they came to United Mission Hospital Tansen and received surgery, wound care and prevention training and also gratefully took home a foam mattress. The surgery was successful, but while journeying home from hospital in the jeep, the stitches tore. They travel 2 hours in a vehicle and then another hour of walking/being carried to get to and from hospital. The family had to return to Tansen again for further care. They were discouraged and despairing. Life felt quite bleak.
While in hospital for many, many weeks, this family had the chance to meet another who were living with similar struggles. As often happens, they supported each other and became friends. Despite having access to the medical assistance fund at the hospital to help with rehabilitation costs such as surgeries, equipment and long hospital stays, these families still identified financial burdens as their largest concern. And so, they became the inspiration for the beginning of a new kind of business of sorts. Different product ideas were floated around and trialed, but in the end, these women worked hard to create hundreds of folded star ornaments out of scraps from a nearby tailor shop. They were eager to learn how to fold and sew these stars and also fabric flowers that could be attached to hair clips and pins. They persevered and experimented with the process until they were making beautiful products that everyone in the hospital wanted to buy!
The ornaments are now in their second year of production and a couple of additional families have joined so that 2 different kinds of ornaments could be produced. For Kumari, this is their family’s only source of income, it has meant that they have money to buy nutritious, protein-rich foods to help with Dam Bahadur’s wound-healing, they can also buy bandages and wound care supplies. Kumari has used the money to buy oil and rice and uses it for their expensive transportation to and from hospital. They have also used a portion to buy a small TV so that instead of sitting at a neighbour’s home in wheelchair, Dan Bahadur can use a TV at home and lie on his stomach so that his wounds can heal.
When Kumari looks into the future, she worries that her husband’s wounds will never heal. She wonders how she will be able to afford school for her son. She dreams of living closer to town to make school easier and to give her opportunities to work outside their home. She dreams that her husband might become well enough to help care for her young son so that she could work as a sweeper at the hospital.
If you are interested in supporting Kumari and indeed the other families who have since joined her in creating ornaments, you can buy ornaments at the Downtown Orillia Farmer’s Market from Beth at Hip Chick Design.
