For a Magar woman from the eastern hills, Menuka has covered more territory than most more-privileged Nepali women. The first of 11 children in her family to pass SLC, she wanted to study nursing but was one of three girls from Terathum to receive a scholarship to study Forestry Science.
She set off to Pokhara's Forest Science Research Centre to graduate in 1995 and landed a job as temporary forest ranger in Dhankuta and later in Sankhuwasabha. But that was not the end of her trail. She next applied to work as a forestry technician for the Nepal Centre for Agro Forestry. She got the job and moved to Siraha and Saptari. There, Menuka not only worked with women in community forestry projects but also learned to speak Maithili fluently.
That success only whetted her appetite for learning and travel. Her next job in the Forestry Partnership Project of CARE Nepal took her to Banke-Bardia and then to Rukum.
While others with contacts got scholarships and moved abroad, she enrolled in Patan Campus where she got a BA majoring in population studies. After donning another graduation gown, she again went west, this time to Kailali, where she worked for the next two years and met her husband-to-be.
At this point, many Nepali women would have settled down. But not Menuka. She decided to push on and did her Masters in Sociology at Tri Chandra Campus. After that, it was back to the field with a DfID-funded Livelihoods Forestry Program in Pyuthan.
What next? You guessed it- MPhil. What sets Menuka apart is her commitment and drive to push herself to the limit, not letting others set it for her. As a woman from an indigenous community, the odds were stacked against her but Menuka credits her father who encouraged her to study. "I had to balance my household chores," she recalls, "it was difficult to find time but I worked hard."
It's paid off. At 29, Menuka is paying for her brother's education in Kathmandu urging him to concentrate on his books and not worry about money. That is because Menuka has something money can't buy: a yearning to do something with her life and help her community and country.
ALOK TUMBAHANGPHEY
