It is not easy for rural women to pursue their dreams and live an independent life when they are confined within four walls of their house due to various domestic responsibilities.

Thirty-one-year-old Sabitri Dhakal of Kalyanpur-4 in the district, however, is one such woman who has emerged victorious in the face of overwhelming odds.

A mother of two sons, she lost the motor function of her leg as she was seriously injured in the Badarmude incident-in which 39 people had died when the then Maoist rebels ambushed a passenger bus using improvised explosive device on June 3, 2005-and soon after that incident, her husband also married with another woman.

She went to Bir Hospital in Kathmandu to treat her fractured leg only to be returned home citing lack of beds. However, she never lost hope.

After collecting Rs 100,000 with the help of the media that shed light on her condition, she went to Bharatpur Hospital, which provided treatment for her free of cost. She finally regained the motor function on her legs after a surgery in the hospital.

With unwavering determination to get her life back and provide for and raise her children, she took up computer training for one-and-a-half months with the help of Prabhatkiran Service Society also attended a beauty parlour training.

Then she headed for the Capital with her sons to work at a friend’s Beauty Parlour. However, as her earning was barely enough to eke out a living in the Capital, she went to Dubai after divorcing her husband, Yamlal Mahato.

Although she faced difficulties in abroad, she now runs a beauty parlour there. She also built a house of her own with Rs 600,000; bought a plot of land and started fish farming in Chitwan. She said she wants to shift her business to her home country but do not want to remarry and go through the emotional pain again. “I guess God did look after me,” said Sabitri whose only dream now is to provide quality education for her children.