“The happiest day of my life was the day my husband returned from the Gulf. Many years before, one of his friend, while working for a foreign company somewhere in the Gulf had fallen of a scaffold and died. My husband had brought back his friends’ body. That day I thought of something that scared me forever. That body could have been anyone’s body. I was heartbroken for the family of his friend but at the same time I was relieved that I still had a husband. Life without him was incomplete. I had children to give me company, I had the villagers to make me laugh and share similar stories and I had our festivals of merrymaking. But my husband was toiling in a foreign land and he had to obey harsh orders day in and day out. Every morning when I had my lunch, I stopped to think about him. Was he hungry? Was he tired? Is he taking care of himself? Or has he fallen ill? What if there was no help and no one to look after him? Tears would roll down my face and I would abandon my plate of rice. But he is back now and he is in one piece. I had a nagging feeling that after seeing the difficulty in raising a family in the village, he might return to the Gulf. So recently, one night before sleep, I asked him if he was going back again. He said that he was not going to leave me and the kids again. He said he was thinking of opening a small canteen in the town. I was relieved for finally everyone would be together, in good times and in bad. That night I slept like never before.” (Sunita Gurung, Besisahar, Lamjung)

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