“Chhimeki helped me with my confidence. I met a lot of people in the meeting. My network of friends increased. I got to know about lot of things”

I took Volunteer Training from Chhimeki in the year 2009. There was a didi (a respectful term used for a woman greater in age) living near my house who used to work in Chhimeki. She always used to see me staying at home. I have a joint family that is why I used to stay at home. She told me about Chhimeki and how they are working for pregnant and postnatal mothers. I asked in my family. First they questioned me but later my husband told me to see it first. After that I went to take the training. I shared everything about the meeting to my husband. And he said to continue with the training. I got to know so much about what antenatal and postnatal mothers should do. Whatever I learned in the training I used to tell other mothers in my community. Due to this training I started going outside of the house, my network of friends increased. While returning to home from training centre I always used to see a tailoring shop on the way.

One day I went inside the shop and asked if I can take the training. I was very nervous because I did not know anything about tailoring but the woman in the shop told me to come for the training. But my formal sewing training started in the year 2010 from Cottage and Small Industry Training Center. I also took advanced training from there. Then after working for six months in boutique I took a fashion designing course from Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT). Gradually I started getting order for stitching clothes and I opened my own tailoring shop. One day I got a call from the boutique I was working asking me to teach. I contacted them and they sent me to take a Training of Trainers (ToT) course in Bhaktapur. Then there was no stopping for me. I worked as a trainer in that boutique and in Cottage and Small Industry Training Center after that. When I heard about the vacancy in Chhimeki for the post of Master Trainer I immediately applied and got selected. Now I am Master Trainer for Chhimeki’s tailoring project.