When a cow becomes a means for education

"My name is Bhumika. I am 10 years old. I go to school at Motherland Academy Rupandehi," she writes in perfect English on the note pad.

When Bhumika speaks, fluent English comes out of the fragile Nepalese girl in the red shirt. For even if you live in a small clay house of only a few square meters with your father, grandmother and two siblings, it can be possible to get a good education and more out of life. It only requires other people to reach out to them.

Four years ago, Bhumikas father, Saligram, received a small loan from Mission East through our local partner NASSO, so he could buy a cow. The one cow has since become more, and earnings from the animals gives Saligram a greater opportunity to send his children to school.

"We are fighting for a better life," says the hard-working father.

He is clearly proud of his daughter, who works just as hard in school. She has been given the opportunity of an education, and is perhaps the family's way out of poverty.

November 2008