Let me earn my living by Sikuma Rai

Photo: Sikuma Rai/ Photo.circle

LET ME EARN MY LIVING: On 22 March, Rama Bohara, 43, became the proud owner of a vegetable pushcart. She would take it out early in the morning and set it up in the marketplace. She had a plan–if she sold a certain amount of vegetables every day she could pay back her loans in just a few weeks. Two days later, Nepal announced the nationwide lockdown, and Bohara was prohibited from taking the cart out. Today, she cannot pay back her loans, support her family, or even pay her house rent.

When the government eased the lockdown in July, Bohara started taking her pushcart out again. However, as the number of COVID-19 cases surged, a ban was imposed again. “They say pushcarts are responsible for the transmission of coronavirus. How can they just say that?” she asks, “I am a single mother who has to feed my two sons and myself and pay rent for the tin shed where we live if the government does not want us to work, will they look after us?”

Despite the ban, Bohara is still going out with her pushcart every day because she sees no other option.“The government ban takes away my only source of income, if I follow the rule, I will be out on the streets, I am only trying to earn an honest living,” says Bohara.

Text and Photos: Sikuma Rai: @sikuma_rhiannon

Copy Edit: Nisha Rai @nishastoryteller

Edit: Mallika Aryal @mikaness

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