DOLAKHA, JUL 12 -
Eight years ago, Parbati Shrestha’s husband left her for another woman and disappeared. Not much educated, Shrestha spent the next five years in a slump, devastated. When an NGO, Rimrek, came to her village, offering training on building a new kind of oven, Shrestha took the chance and found her calling.
Shrestha is now respected all over her village for her skills in making an oven that uses less firewood and is essentially smoke-free. Shrestha goes door-to-door promoting and building these ovens. Her fame has spread far and wide and even people from neighbouring districts are clamouring to have her come to build them her trademark ovens.
The villagers call her an ‘oven engineer’ as Shrestha has built more than 400 ovens, each for around Rs 400.
“I wasted five years of my life after my husband abandoned me but once I started building ovens, happiness returned to my life,” said Shrestha.
Pech Kumar Sunuwar, field technical coordinator for Rimrek, said that there was a great demand for Shrestha’s skills due to her expertise in the construction of the improved ovens. Out of the 562 households in the VDC, 466 operate the new and improved ovens, most of which Shrestha built. The villagers have even declared the VDC an interior-smoke-free zone.
Shrestha has been honoured by various organisations, including the Ministry of Environment for her contribution to conserving environment by building and promoting smoke-free ovens. “When the villagers honoured me with garlands and vermilion, it was like balm on my wounds. One can be successful by translating their skills into a job,” she said.
Source: http://www.ekantipur.com/2012/07/12/national/smoke-free-oven-transforms-woman/356984/
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