Pampha Bohara

My name is Pampha, and two of my five children have died. Three weeks ago I gave birth to twin baby girls.

I was married when I was 16 years old, and have given birth to five children. Two of my children are seven years old (one boy and one girl). My second son died when he was two years old, due to pneumonia. I gave birth three weeks ago to twin daughters. After a difficult homebirth, I had severe bleeding for two weeks after the delivery and was feeling very ill, while having to breastfeed the twin babies. After two weeks, my husband asked Foundation Nepal’s health worker to visit me. He came each day for a week, and with his help, I am slowly recovering. However, one of the babies died two days ago due to her low weight.

I am illiterate. My two older children are in Class 1 and Class 2 in primary school. We have only 3/8 of an acre of land to grow our food. We produce 300 kg of food per year, enough for three months. The World Food Programme does not operate in Thehe, so my husband must travel to India for five months of the year to do labouring. He brings back about 20,000R (€200) which we use to buy food for the rest of the year. During those months, I must manage the farm and the children on my own. On average I work 14 hours a day doing farm work, fetching wood and water, and cooking. I am lame, so it is very difficult for me to do all of the physical work required to grow food.

I would like to use family planning, as I suffer a lot from fatigue after five child births, and my lameness makes my workload very difficult, but my husband wants me to have two sons, so he does not permit me to use family planning. I would like my children to go to school and get a good education, and for my husband to be able to earn a higher income through skills training, and I hope that Foundation Nepal can help us to achieve this.