E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, MAR 20 -

Life has taught her harsh lessons and by the year she has gone stronger. At 19 she went to live at UN-monitored cantonment and for the last one year she has been struggling in Kathmandu.

After the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, in 2007, Karuna aka Bina Sharma was verified by the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) as a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) fighter. Earlier, she was serving the then CPN (Maoist) as a member. Earlier she was part of party’s cultural group.

Sharma says, something that kept on haunting her was her brother and sister-who were back in Kurga, Parbat-would not be able to complete their education.

Sharma, who had finished a two-year course in Auxiliary Nurse Mid-wife (ANM) in 2005 before joining the party, had different things in her mind. “The allowance she was getting at the cantonment was never enough to pay for my sister and brother’s education,” she recounts.

The UN-verified former combatants are paid Rs. 5000 monthly and they have to pay Rs. 400 to the party as a levy as they are the permanent members of the party as well. An artiste, Sharma developed her penchant for football while in the cantonment. In March 2009, she came to Kathmandu after she was selected to play in the national games from the central region.

This marked the onset of her civilian life. She shed her combat fatigue and gave a new spin to her life. She got a job as field coordinator in an NGO working against Hepatitis-B in Sitapaila. Her ANM degree came handy and she could make a comfortable earning of around Rs. 15,000 a month.

“I had a hunch that I would get a job in Kathmandu. So, I had asked my sister and brother to come here,” says Sharma. Her sister now is pursuing her bachelor’s and her brother is in class 11.

But fate had something else in store for her. Last month she left the job. The only source of income she has now is the monthly allowance that she is getting.

“But I am hopeful that I will get a job soon,” says the 22-year-old Sharma clad in a t-shirt that has ‘Janamukti Sena Nepal’ printed on it. Though she still aspires to be an army personnel, she still prefers a job that pays her enough to make a decent living and to pay fees of her siblings. “I wish I could be a nurse, but…,” she gushes.

 

Posted on: 2010-03-20 12:00

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