Sormaya and Sukbardru Gurung left their village – and their land – in search of work. But what they found was only seasonal employment in construction and crushing rocks into gravel for road-building.  This exhausting labor is so physically demanding that they could only work a few hours per day and could not bring in a steady income. Even with help from the couple’s four children, who worked before and after school, the family was struggling.

After receiving their Trickle Up grant, the couple researched businesses and settled on raising pigs. They bought materials to build a shed and two locally-bred pigs, an expensive breed. Breeding proved difficult: both pigs gave birth but their piglets would not take their milk, and in spite of Sormaya’s efforts to feed them by hand, they all died. So she sold the sows and with the profit bought a mixed-breed. Sormaya has since decided to purchase piglets, raise them, and then sell them as adults – a practical venture because she lacks adequate breeding space – and with her second Trickle Up installment, she purchased several additional piglets.

The family belongs to a cooperative savings group and, for the first time ever, has savings. The savings group has also enabled the couple to expand their social network. Most important, Sormaya – who previously only spoke her local language – has learned the regional dialect thanks to the social aspect of her savings-group meetings. Now she can assert her voice in her community.