Kalyani Found Hope Through Joni’s House Nepal
“I was alone in my time of suffering.”
Kalyani lives in the hill country of Nepal—rugged terrain that she has navigated alone for much of her life.
“I am 45 or 46 years old. There was no one to inform us,” says Kalyani.
Kalyani laughs easily, and her countenance wants to smile, even as she talks about the exclusion and cruelty she has received from the world. Living with dwarfism in a culture that largely views people with disabilities as sub-human—and a basis for rejection—Kalyani has always sought to learn, work, and develop a full life. While she longed to learn to read as a child, she had no opportunity to get an education.
“When I heard the students reading at school, I wept because I could not attend school,” she says.
During childhood, Kalyani recalls her older brother carrying her on his back when she was unable to keep up. But in time her family abandoned her, unable to see her value as a human being, and lacking the means to care for her.
“I was in much pain and poverty.”
With poverty multiplying her isolation, Kalyani often had no way to get her basic needs met, let alone her deeper need for love and acceptance. She tried many ways to make a living, but always ended up hungry and without a roof over her head.
“I used to carry compost manure on my back, take a stick out and go out shepherding the goats. I used to go for paddy planting also. But I had nothing to eat! If only you had visited me then…
I went to hotels seeking jobs, but they would not let me work there, saying it would be a sin. I sold peanuts, but could not earn enough to eat twice a day.
When I had nowhere to stay, I went around in the caves, hills, bridges. There was a time when I couldn’t get water. I would ask and people would throw water and dirt at me. I was in much pain and poverty. I don’t like to think about those times.”
Kalyani
While she will share honestly about the hurt in her life, Kalyani doesn’t want to linger there. She believes that, through every trauma she endures, God is present and sees her. Pointing to her heart she says:
“I am not scared… there is God in here. However men may try to despise us, God does not despise us.”
Kalyani’s New Life
When she met our team from Joni’s House Nepal, who went out into the rural reaches of the country seeking people with disabilities, Kalyani found the kind of support she’d ached for all her life. Through Joni’s House, Kalyani received loving, holistic help to develop a livelihood that will sustain her.
The Joni’s House team constructed a shed and pen for Kalyani to raise chickens, offering her dignity in her community and a sustainable source of income. Joni’s House has also provided the chicken feed, feeding pots, and materials Kalyani needs to grow her business.
But more than just the economic help, Kalyani shares that she has also gained hope, and a sense of belonging.
“I used to have no one to help me. I used to weep and wander around. I had no parents to love and care for me. Now I feel like I found my parents whose love I did not have.
I used to have no shelter and would get soaked by the rain. Now I have this shelter. Now I can raise some chickens and make money, so I am happy.”
Kalyani
Through her business, Kalyani hopes to make enough money to expand her single-room home one day.
In Kalyani’s district and many others like it, the majority of people with disabilities live in desperate poverty. It’s why our Joni’s House team goes out, day by day, seeking those in need, offering them immediate and eternal hope.
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