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Amidst frustrations on the home front, the lure of foreign employment was always there in him. Accordingly, he cherished this dream of working in one of those Arab countries where life supposedly would be more rewarding compared to sustained state of destitution that he has been subjected to. This burning desire for supposedly better life saw him working very hard in the streets of Kathmandu repairing old shoes and as a result he was able to manage some savings – savings that could pay his journey to one of the ‘Arab countries’. But unfortunately this was not to be! His dream for better employment prospects overseas was shattered when he realised that a broker who promised Hari to arrange a visa cheated him with all of his savings. This was enough to dissuade Hari to continue working in Kathmandu , instead he departed for Pokhara with a mere Rs. 1, 000 in his pocket. He rented a room in Bagar Tole of Pokhara Sub Metropolitan city for his family of four. This marked the onset of another bout of seemingly never ending struggle - he desperately searched for an employment but in vain. These were the most difficult days of his life, as he had to provide for his family as well as pay the rent of his room. In the process of struggling hard to eke out a living, he was engaging himself in a shoe shop as a part time worker. One fine day while in a search of employment, his wife found herself attending a gathering. But to her delight, that gathering happened to be a meeting of Bagar TLO where she came to know about RUPP and also about its credit support schemes to micro enterprises. She was taken by surprise when she came to know that RUPP would provide its credit package without any collateral. Finding difficult to believe this, Hari, her husband, made further inquiries to verify the news. Again to his delight, Hari came across a number of entrepreneurs running their businesses with RUPP credits in his own neighbourhood. Next meeting of Bagar TLO would bring more opportunities for Hari and his wife. During that meeting Hari and his wife showed both their interest and necessity for running an enterprise with the credit from RUPP. With the credit support of Rs. 5,000 that he received from the Programme, he started his own enterprise of shoemaking. Even a loan of such a small amount has brought about significantly large impact on his life. Though he had skills for shoe making, he did not have any access to sources of funding required to create an enterprise. That credit support just happened provide him with critical funding to start his enterprise. Things have definitely changed for the better for Hari and his wife. He has paid up all the credit and is more secure and established with his business making a daily income of Rs 600 in an average and maintaining his family of four and providing for schooling of his children with relative ease. One can easily witness his prosperity in Pokhara when one visits Bhojpur shoe centre located at Bagar. Today, Hari stands tall as an example for others. In his own words, he is of full admiration for RUPP’s credit support extended as part of enterprise development plan along with the process that comes concomitant with it is most suitable for addressing the needs of the poorest of the poor. The fact that one does not need physical collateral to get the Programme supports to start his or her own business is a definite plus for a person like him. The best part according to him, is that the programme addresses the issues in totality – meaning that it is not only the credit support that is extended but the support comes in the form of an integrated package involving skills enhancement and technology transfer.
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This is the story of Hari Sarki, born in 1974 at Baikuntha VDC, Bhojpur, Hari spent most of his life in extreme poverty and deprivation. A quest for stable employment took him too many places – including Kathmandu.
