Nine years ago, Kabiram Tamang went to work in Malaysia. Last year, his wife, who was living in Kathmandu with their son, ran away with another man. For the first two years Tamang says he was close to his wife, and sent her money regularly. “Even though we were physically apart, our hearts were still together,” he recalls.
But their relationship began to sour when Tamang started getting calls from his relatives about his wife flirting with other men. Tamang came to Kathmandu last year, only to find that his wife had eloped with another man. “I returned to Malaysia with a heavy heart,” he says.
Prama Lama of Sindhupalchok went through a similar experience. She was married to a man who worked in Kathmandu and made regular trips home. Soon, Lama found out her husband was living with another woman in Kathmandu. “I was shocked but I stayed, accepting it as my fate,” says Lama.
She got a share of her husband’s property, but it wasn’t enough to raise her daughters. With support from her sisters Lama set up a tea shop in Kathmandu which did not run very well. So Lama joined thousands of Nepali women to work as a domestic helper in Kuwait, and later in Malaysia. Lama and Tamang were introduced to each other in Malaysia by a mutual friend. They connected instantly, and it was love at first meeting.
“We understood each other perfectly because of what we had been through,” says Tamang, who works in Port Klang, near where Lama also works.
Last week, the two got married in Malaysia. They plan to eventually return to Nepal with their savings to start a business, and also raise their children together.
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