Uma Ghimire is a 36 years old lady whose ill-fated day started when she was sold in circus by her parents in the age of 9. She worked in circus, rather abused, for almost 17 years where she fell down multiple times and gave up on life.After so long gap, she returned home with a 2 years old son both being infected with HIV. But the family and the society fell-out to accept a HIV victim and her child as a result of which she was abandoned by the community and left completely helpless and homeless. But still she saw light at the end of the tunnel and never gave up.
At a difficult point in her life, she got a golden chance to get participated in the livelihood training program conducted by MSP Era (now SETU Nepal) where she met with many other women too with tragic stories like her. The life changing skills and knowledge delivered in the training made her so self-reliant that a woman who had almost gave up on life now stands as a leading light for the countless infected and forlorn mothers. With the seed money provided in the training, she started small mobile tea shop and gradually raised her socio-economic status. Though she is not disclosed formally in the community as HIV positive, she is renowned as a social mobilizer with a strong determination and leadership capacity. As a community worker of SETU Nepal she also visits many districts in the country to interact with the HIV infected women and motivate them through group formation and many other interactive programs. She helps them for their self-employment and independency which is the greatest earning of her life. She is now psychologically and socio-economically independent women and an ideal mother too with a son carrying a potential to be an exemplary member in the community in near future with such appreciable nurturing and support.
When it comes to the story of Setu Nepal, we feel proud to be a caretaker of such role models and the million dollar smiles brought in their lives through our small initiatives is our genuine earning.