Long before she ever heard of Passing on the Gift®, Bhagawati Parajuli understood the value of giving. “We consider it our social responsibility,” she said. “Once you are in society, you should give back to society.”
Helping others make progress is Bhagawati’s way of proving to herself that she has made progress. And indeed she has. Despite being widowed as a young mother, thanks to her determined nature, upbeat attitude — and your commitment to giving back as a Friend of Heifer — she is now flourishing. With your gifts, Heifer can invest in farmers like Bhagawati and make life better for communities like hers in Nepal.
Life changed for Bhagawati after grade 10, when her family arranged for her to be married. She was just 17 when she moved in with Padam and his family. The family depended on Padam’s income as a police officer. “Although he had a small salary, he had good habits and did not waste money,” recalls his father, Rudra Bahadur Parajuli. His sudden death in a car accident came as a shock. Bhagawati was only 19, her daughter, Sajina, was just 6 months old. But while some widows might have returned to their own family, Bhagawati stayed with her in-laws. They were good to her and she was grieving her husband. “It took me one and a half years to gain mental composure again,” she said.
When her daughter Sajina was 3, Bhagawati enrolled her in school and began to consider her own future. She needed to take care of her husband’s family but lacked confidence in her ability to be the breadwinner. Encouraged by a friend, she joined a newly formed women’s savings group. It was not an easy decision — Bhagawati worried whether she could handle the additional responsibility — but it turned out to be a momentous one. Soon after, Heifer launched a project in her community and began to work with Bhagawati’s group. The once-simple savings and loan operation was transformed into the Purbanchal Self-Help Group.
Bhagawati heard stories about how Heifer changed women’s lives for the better, and she wanted that for her own family. She threw herself into Heifer training, starting with the 12 Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development, the core values that form the foundation of our work. After completing animal management training, Bhagawati received three female goats and a breeding buck from Heifer, along with fodder seedlings, seeds for a kitchen garden and lessons in converting animal manure into organic compost. Thanks to all of her training, Bhagawati has grown her herd to 30 goats and has hundreds of chickens!
Bhagawati is now the secretary of the SEWC cooperative. The cooperative also provides vaccinations and access to insurance. As the only cooperative in their region run by women, it has seen its membership grow from 600 to 2,700 families.
Life truly changed for Bhagawati. She has a thriving farm, she can afford school fees and room and board for her daughter, and she serves as president of the Purbanchal Self-Help Group and secretary of the Suraksha SEWC cooperative. “I got this confidence after receiving the Cornerstone training,” she said. “Because I could see women doing well in their enterprises.” Bhagawati’s experience reminds me of the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.”
Thank you for giving women like Bhagawati the opportunity to see how much they are capable of achieving and for inspiring them to be what they knew they could be!
