Her income isn't enough to wipe out the family's debt. It won't clear the loans that piled up from her husband's treatment. The family is still figuring out what they can afford and what they can't. But, as she puts it, I can now buy food. I can buy cooking oil. I can buy notebooks and pencils for my children.

Written down, these might sound like small things. But for a woman living in one of the remotest parts of the country, they carry real weight. When a child needs a notebook for school, when the kitchen needs something, when a household expense comes up and she can pay for it with money she earned herself, those small moments give her a bit more say in how her family gets through the day.

Villagers mocked her, questioning why she continued to pursue education while preparing to become a mother, but she did not stop. She attended classes during pregnancy, while continuing to attend tuition at the foundation. I went to school and tuition, and also studied at night after everyone was asleep. People used to talk a lot, but I did not listen to them and wanted to show them that I can be something. Jasudha says calmly. 

My heart is strong now, Purna says. Tears do not fall that easily anymore. But I cried a lot in the past.

Years ago, Purna was a widowed mother struggling to support her two daughters in a village where poverty, caste and gender shaped almost every part of her life. Today, she leads Karnali Ratna - a for profit agriculture enterprise, working alongside other women, and speaks proudly about her daughters’ education.