Photo Courtesy: Barsha Dahal Born in Ghyang Sukathokar, Dolakha, Sharmila Khadka is a 38 years old woman, living her life bearing positive thoughts. Married at the age of 16, she is currently the mother of two children, a son and a daughter. She has been running a small shop outside of Deerwalk Complex since 2012 AD. Before starting this small business, she used to work for Deerwalk Services. She has come along her life experiencing really hard times. All her childhood, she had to go into the forest to cut grass, and graze the cattle. Being the eldest of her family, she had to take all the responsibilities of her 3 brothers, 2 sisters, and also the family. Her childhood itself showed her the trace of how difficult her life was going to be. She wanted to study, let’s say, she had a wish to study, but she never could. Her voice broke a little bit when she expressed her bitter remembrance of being hit by “Naamlo” by her father while expressing her wish to study. And then she got married in the quest of living a happy life. Sadly, it happened to be even worse. Her new routine included waking up at 2 a.m. and completing the household works. She shared how her dream of becoming a great officer was cursed by her fate. Fortunately, her informal education helped her to write her name and do some normal calculations, and happened to meet the guidelines of a literate person, as stated by the Nepal Government. 15 years ago, carrying her 5 months old daughter, she had entered the busy life of Kathmandu along with her husband. Back then, she used to live with her family in a small room paying Rs.500 per month as a rent. It was very hard for her family to earn their livelihood. She was jobless, and so was her husband. They had to spend many nights carrying an empty stomach. After a year, she got a job to work as a house-maid. Her husband also got a job of a driver. After that, their incomes were finally able to let them live a happy life, and by stating happy, I’m sure she’s not claiming a life full of comforts and luxuries, but a life that is just enough to make them reach their basic needs. These days, she lives in Haadi Gaun with her family. Her husband works for Verisk Company, previously known as D2Hawkeye Services. Her son studies at Brihaspati VidyaSadan and her daughter studies at Anmol Jyoti at Maligaun. At this point, she thinks herself as a lucky woman. She is happy and satisfied to experience the changing colors of her life. Her life has been totally changed than what she had faced in her past. Her husband has a good job, and earns good money. She is also able to collect sufficient amount from her small shop-business. Her children are studying in a good school and are good at studies. She doesn’t find anything to worry about today. She now has a dream to see her son as an engineer and her daughter as a staff nurse. Her children have surely not faced the kind of problems she had faced, and, she hopes that they will go on to become successful persons in the future. She thanks Deerwalk family for the love and support. As for her, DWIT is her home and DWIT family is her own family. So, from the heart of entire DWIT and Deerwalk family, we’d like to wish her a very happy life, and we hope that her children will do enough to fulfill her dreams.