Program Growth & Development

Education, Health, and Standard of Living

Throughout the history of the program, EWN has had the privilege of witnessing women revitalize their lives with their newfound economic independence. With gainful employment, women are able to improve their education, their health, and their standard of living.

For example, one of our trainees from a remote village in Palpa was ineligible for college when she first joined the program. She had failed her graduation exams due to lack of English language skills. Throughout the program, she learned English from her trainers, supervisors, and clients. After a year, she returned to her village to re-take her exams. She passed with flying colors! Currently she is enrolled in a prestigious University in Pokhara. Her work as a trekking guide supports her studies. Four other trainees are also supporting their education through their job as a trekking guide.

Often, trainees arrive from disadvantaged areas where malnourishment runs rampant. When one of our long-term participants arrived, she, her husband, and their two-year-old son were unhealthy and had no income. Since she joined the program, the family’s living standards and economic status have greatly increased. She still works as a guide and can afford to send her son to a quality boarding school. The son is healthy and full of promise, and she is confident and strong in her job.

The economic benefits the women gain from guide training not only enrich their own lives, but also improve the lives of their families. One client witnessed the trainee guide hand her salary to her sister, "to help educate her young niece and nephew." The trainee learned the value of education, and wished to invest in their futures as well as her own. Other women support elderly parents, young children, and aid in improving the standard of living for their community. These results demonstrate that a small ripple, extends far into the community, promoting long-term social change and improving the quality of life.

Expanding Social Boundaries

Traditionally in Nepal, a woman’s role is one of sacrifice and duty. For a woman to take another path invites intense social scrutiny. Through the program, women learn to combat social oppression with grace and courage. EWN develops women's emotional and intellectual skills to reject these limitations.

For the first time in their lives, women, suffocating under strict social rules, can finally exhale. A single mother of two, joined the program, and now feels like she is capable of providing a good life for her and her daughters, “I feel like I have been let out of my prison. For the first time in my life, I have the freedom to live how I choose.”

Escaping from an abusive marriage, forced to leave her children behind, one trainee had nowhere to turn. She entered the program without education, skills, or previous work experience. Despite her families' protests to her employment aspirations, she persevered and succeeded in the program. She has been successfully employed in the trekking field for the last six years. Reunited with her children, she supports them and their education with her income. Her husband even offers to look after the children so that she may work. Seeing her grow in so many positive ways through the training, her family's attitude has changed completely.

Through their diligence and courage, these women are paving the way to social freedom, a road which all women can travel.