During his visit to Nepal last December, our Founder and Executive Director Anil met Sunita. Sunita cares for her son who has Cerebral Palsy and she has been working with us through our partner organisation SGCP Nepal, for four years.
Over those years, Sunita has had the opportunity to undertake training in how to make slippers which she sells at a local market. She uses the money she earns from selling these slippers to fund her kitchen garden. Sunita’s husband runs a restaurant and they use the produce from the garden both at home and in the restaurant.
As well as training in slipper making, Sunita has also received training in growing her garden, how to care for her son and support his individual needs, how to care for herself and look after her own mental health, and how to advocate for the rights of carers.
When she met with Anil, Sunita showed him her rooftop kitchen garden where she grows leafy vegetables, garlic, onion, and talked to him about how Carers Worldwide and SGCP have helped support her and her family: “During lockdown a virtual Facebook messenger group with the other carers in my Carers Group kept me going when everything was closed. It was the only platform I had to talk about the difficulties and challenges of caring and talk about my son’s issues.”
Anil said of meeting Sunita “Sunita is so full of confidence! She has taken advantage of the various livelihood activities and training courses that are available through our work and she is obviously feeling proud that she’s not only caring for her son, but also contributing to her family’s income. In her staircase she has the certificates from all her training courses on display – which was so lovely to see.”
Thank you to The National Lottery Community Fund, who funded the project that Sunita has been a part of, promoting the social, emotional, medical and economic wellbeing of carers, mostly mothers, of children with Cerebral Palsy and other neurological disorders living across the Kathmandu Valley. If you would like to help continue our work supporting unpaid family carers like Sunita across Nepal, as well as in India and Bangladesh, then please do consider giving a gift here. Thank you!
