Spring 2010
Clockwise from left: Reema in her salon; Nepalese woman selling bangles in the Market; Women dressed in their best for a festival; Intricate hair decorations are popular at festival time.
EVERYONE WANTS TO BE BEAUTIFUL Photos and Story by Lyn Jackson of United Mission to Nepal
Everyone wants to look their best, and Nepali village women are no exception. They love bright colours, wear glittering glass beads and bangles with pride, and treasure their “gold,” the costume jewellery given to them as brides such as necklaces, ear-rings and nose-rings. They wash and oil their hair, braiding in flowers or decorations at festival time.
B
ut now and then, a woman needs something a little extra – a visit to the beauty parlour. This is not vanity; it is about dignity, the kind of dignity that God bestows on us as his children, made in his image. And to put this into perspective the cost of this luxury is not what nearly what you would pay in New Zealand. To have your hair styled in Reema’s salon, it costs the equivalent of NZ 57c. Unfortunately, such institutions are somewhat rare in rural villages. But as a student Reema Gurung dreamt of a salon that would serve women, giving them this God-given dignity, in the three rural areas that intersect in her small market town, Mahadevbesi, in Dhading District. Reema trained in Kathmandu before opening her salon. Every day, women come into the town, to sell vegetables, buy household goods, visit the clinic or, in the case of younger women, attend school. Reema saw the potential. She carefully saved what she could, and attended a beauty parlour training program. But she had no idea of how to start her own business.
Fortunately, TEAR Fund’s partner United Mission Nepal, had a partner that was running training programmes for people like Reema – people with an idea, enthusiasm and skills – on enterprise development. Now, Reema’s salon is bustling with customers. Ten to 20 clients a day come by for hairdressing, skin treatments or nail care. They also select from her small stock of basic cosmetics. Reema’s clients say: “We always wanted to look beautiful, but we couldn’t go all the way to Kathmandu for that. Now we have your shop, right here where we can come easily when we are visiting the bazaar anyway, for other things.” Reema is thrilled. She has a thriving business, doing what she enjoys. Maybe you’re thinking that helping set up beauty parlours is a bit frivolous for a development agency. There are lots of other stories I could tell: the story of Haldar the ploughman, whose training as an animal health worker provided a valuable service to his community, and helped him lift his family out of poverty;
the story of Sumitra, who successfully grows asparagus on her vegetable plot, supporting her family while her husband works overseas; the story of Manu, who used the income she earned raising pigs to continue her schooling. Then there are the small grocery shops, tea stalls, mobile phone repairers, blacksmiths, candle-making groups, rabbit-raisers, tailors… The list is endless, because the initiative, creativity, persistence and skills of people struggling against poverty are limitless. Because people dream dreams that aren’t bounded by our priorities, and because women want to look beautiful, as well as feed their families and send their children to school. Because when Jesus invited us all to “live life to the full”, he meant it! There’s no “one size fits all” for micro-enterprises. Instead, there are limitless opportunities, just waiting for a chance to take flight. Please help others like Reema to realise their dreams of working their way out of poverty with dignity, by giving generously to TEAR Fund Microenterprise. Just fill in the form in this publication or visit www.tearfund.org.nz TEAR Fund NZ supports United Mission to Nepal’s Sustainable Livelihoods programme, which works with a range of Christian micro-enterprise organisations.
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