Her two sons—Maniram and Yogesh, who are in their mid 20s—are bedridden since suffering a brain stroke. BK said that her children including two sons and a daughter suffered from the brain disease when they reached the age of ten.

However, her daughter died two years ago after battling the disease for many years.

As BK’s husband, who had gone to India in search of job opportunities 22 years ago, is yet to return, the elderly woman said that she is finding it hard to support her family.

BK said her two disabled sons have been bedridden for many years and that they cannot even defecate without their mother’s help.

On top of that, she said that her differently-abled sons are also deprived of allowance given by the government to disabled persons. She said that she is hardly managing even two square meals a day for the family working as a daily wage labourer.

“I am struggling to support my family as I cannot work much due to my rapidly advancing age,” she said, adding that she does not even have any land in her name. She said that she is forced to look after her disabled children as there is no one in her family to do so in her absence.  To make the matter worse, she said that she is ill herself.

She said that she does not even have money to take her disabled sons to the hospital for treatment. Laxman Thapa, coordinator at the Hospital and Rehabilitation Center for Disabled Children in Baglung, said that his office has been bearing the travel and treatment costs for BK’s two sons. Thapa said that BK’s sons have slim chances of recovery because they received treatment very late.   Chuda Bahadur Kunwar, chairman of the District Disabled Network, demanded that the government provide special relief to such disabled persons. He suggested setting up a fund in the district to provide aid to disabled persons, adding that many differently-able persons are also deprived of government assistance.