"Now I wish to be his wife in seven more lifetimes.": Laxman and Puja's story
Hear from Laxman and Puja, a couple whose marriage has undergone a dramatic transformation since attending the couple sessions held by the gender-based violence project.
September's featured volunteer
Namaste! My name is Raj Karki. I’m volunteering as a Diffusion Advisor on VSO’s Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Response project in Nepal. I’m looking forward to keeping you up to date with how we’re getting on and how your support is making a lasting difference to the lives of women and girls here.
I’m delighted to be volunteering with VSO and to have the opportunity to share my experiences with you all. I’ve been in my role of Diffusion Advisor for just over a year, which has given me loads of opportunities to learn and grow, as well as use the knowledge I’ve gained over the years. Thank you for standing with me and helping to make a positive impact in my home country.
It is unacceptable that more than one in four women in Nepal experience gender-based violence in their lifetime. With your support, my colleagues and I are leading a range of prevention activities to stop violence against women and girls here. We’re doing this by running interactive sessions with couples, families, community groups and leaders to challenge social norms that value men and boys over women and girls. Working alongside other organisations, we’re part of an incredible movement to create long-lasting change.
September '23 volunteer update
One thing I love about working on the project is hearing how the work is transforming relationships and positively changing lives. Like Laxman and Puja's, who recently participated in a transformative 10-day couples session organised by the project. The sessions are held with couples to discuss and reflect on practices within their family and community. These help couples identify harmful attitudes and improve their understanding of gender-based violence.
The sessions have had a profound impact on Laxman and Puja’s marriage, and Laxman even said he has had a ‘personal revelation’!
LaxmanAfter attending the couple sessions, there has been a change in me.
Husband and father
Laxman previously believed that it was a woman's responsibility to stay home and do chores while men go to work. Since attending the sessions, he recognises there should be equal responsibility in household chores. As a result, Laxman is now putting wholehearted effort into supporting his wife. He helps her around the home and shares the responsibility of their children. His newfound awareness is bringing positive change to their daily lives, resulting in a more balanced and healthy partnership.
Hear from Laxman and Puja…
I hope you enjoy hearing from Laxman and Puja. It certainly motivates me to keep up the good work that we’re doing when I hear positive stories like these. I hope it shows how important your donations really are to VSO.
It also motivates me a lot when I receive your kind messages of well wishes and good luck. If you’ve previously left me a message, thank you so much. And if you’d like to get in touch or have a question, did you know you can leave me a message below? I’d love to hear from you!
Raj
VSO Diffusion Advisor, national volunteer tackling gender-based violence, Nepal.
Want to ask a question?
VSO’s Sponsor a Volunteer team will share your message with the VSO volunteer and get back to you with a response. Your email address will not be used, disclosed or transferred to any VSO personnel, it will be stored securely in accordance with VSOs privacy policy. A sample of messages including display names will be published to the Sponsor a Volunteer homepage each month.
Your latest questions answered
I will pray that you are given the strength and courage to continue up in your efforts to help lessen the sorry plight of woman and girls I realise that success in this work will not happen quickly but even small changes can make such difference .
Raj
Thank you Vera for your prayers. Yes, we might not be able to bring drastic change but we are making change in the individual life as much as we can and positive changes in the individual lives are really satisfying.
Thank you very much for sending me the latest update on your most valuable work in Nepal. It is indeed a very worthy project, far from easy given the historic nature of men's violence against women and girls and not confined to your own country of course.
Raj
Dear Diane,
Thank you for all these beautiful words. The idea of bringing family members and community is based on the fact that we as a social being have to live in society and many of our attitudes and behaviors (bad or good) are moderated by norms and values of society. Thus, inorder to bring the positive change we also have to create awareness among family members as well as wider community.
Thank you for all these beautiful words. The idea of bringing family members and community is based on the fact that we as a social being have to live in society and many of our attitudes and behaviors (bad or good) are moderated by norms and values of society. Thus, inorder to bring the positive change we also have to create awareness among family members as well as wider community.
Thank you very much for sending me the latest update on your most valuable work in Nepal. It is indeed a very worthy project, far from easy given the historic nature of men's violence against women and girls and not confined to your own country of course.
Raj
Hello Diane,
Thank you for your encouraging and kind words.
Yes, it's indeed a difficult work considering how deeply rooted is harmful social norms and practices in country like Nepal but because of generous supporter like you, we are able to reach out to as many men and women as possible.
Our work is based on Socio-Ecological Model adapted for gender-based violence prevention and response which adopts a holistic approach to tackle the harmful social norms and practices. Thus, we try to include individual as well as whole communities in our sessions. Through this approach we are really able to bring significant changes in the society and participants are also quite satisfied to learn eye opening ideas regarding gender-based violence.
Thank you for your encouraging and kind words.
Yes, it's indeed a difficult work considering how deeply rooted is harmful social norms and practices in country like Nepal but because of generous supporter like you, we are able to reach out to as many men and women as possible.
Our work is based on Socio-Ecological Model adapted for gender-based violence prevention and response which adopts a holistic approach to tackle the harmful social norms and practices. Thus, we try to include individual as well as whole communities in our sessions. Through this approach we are really able to bring significant changes in the society and participants are also quite satisfied to learn eye opening ideas regarding gender-based violence.
Did you know?
We bring about lasting change not by sending aid, but by working through volunteers to empower communities in some of the world’s poorest regions. You can read more about VSO’s areas of work and discover more about our projects here.
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