Tekmaya Pradhan, the second child of father Mr. Ambar Bahadur Khawas and mother Mrs. Koushila Khawas was born in eastern hilly region’s remote district, Namsilang VDC ward no.6 in 2040 B.S. From childhood age, Tekmaya could never realize the actual feelings of happiness and joy. She spent her childhood on riverside, forest, cow rearing and the remaining time she helped her mother in the household works and then go for school. Inspite of great efforts, she couldn’t pass class 10 due to the poor economic condition of the family of 1 brother and 4 sisters as her father always remained busy in agriculture and labor works. Though young by age, but matured by behavior, Tekmaya  felt that something must be done to reduce father’s economic burden.  That’s why she decided to get married at the age of 21 years(2061 B.S.) to Mr. Rajiv Pradhan, son of Mr. Yam Bahadur Pradhan, Kalabh district of Shantipur VDC ward no. 5.

Even after marriage the sorrow never left her but the saying “Patience makes a man perfect” is proved to be worthy in her life. She never got moved by the sorrows and did hard labor every single day and night. After 2 years of marriage, the elder daughter-in-law of Pradhan family was forced to leave the house along with 1 year daughter as share. She had no option left except asking the neighbors for shelter and promised to work for them instead of paying the rent. “As a result of collective hard work and efforts, we were relieved to buy 5 aana land in Rs. 737,500 and build a house by spending Rs. 92,000 within 1 year”, says Tekmaya.

The Jeevan Bikas Branch Office Aitabare turned out to be a boon for these couples. It was during 2067 B.S. when the organization led to establishment of the centre no. 22 by participating women of that place promoting women empowerment.The centre included 20 houses among which Tekmaya was one of the members. The training from the centre, excitement and belief of her inner soul made her decide to buy a cow. For the first time, she took a loan of Rs. 30,000 and bought a cow. The cow was a big help to improve her economic condition. Further, she decided to repair her house by taking home loan of Rs. 35,000. Excited by the change seen in her life, she took a loan of Rs. 60,000 through the project named animal husbandry and bought three cows. After that together with the joint efforts of herself and husband’s income, she owned 19 aana residential land. In addition to this, in the duration of 5 years she owned 10 ropani land in the village.

Tekmaya always believed only few people in her life, and JBS was one of them who always walked along with her at the time of trouble and motivate her to uplift her degrading economic life. Inspired by being self employed, she added another loan of Rs. 200,000 named ‘Swadeshi Swarojgar’ from Jeevan Bikas and opened a cow farm. Today her husband is free from the burden of doing labor outside and a remarkable improvement can been seen in their economic status. Now, Tekmaya has become an example of successful woman in the village.