Page 41 of Somewhere Only We Know

‘Thank you, lady.’ She indicated my bags and beamed. ‘You have supported our businesses and we are very grateful.’

‘I am the grateful one. I’ve managed to buy lots of things to take back to England with me.’

‘We hold our market every month. Please come back, tell your friends.’ She handed a leaflet to me.

It wasn’t written in English, but the photographs told me all I needed to know. There were pictures of smiling women handing out awards, making clothing, tending rows of seedlings, groups with their arms around each other. It was about women supporting women.

‘I’ll have left Nepal by then, but I’ll pin this up on the noticeboard,’ I promised. ‘It looks like a fun organisation to be a part of. If I was staying longer, I might want to join myself.’

Her eyes lit up and she pressed a business card into my hand. ‘Here is my email address and this is my name: Rina. I would like international partners. You could help us.’

‘I’m not sure what I can do from the UK, but I’m flattered. Thank you.’

‘Many of our ladies have not been to school and cannot read or write. But they are smart and want better lives for their families. We help them plan their business and give them small loans to buy what they need to get started. There is no help from the banks for small businesses like the ones our ladies have, so we do it ourselves. We need sponsors, we need space in the big hotels to hold our markets … many things.’

I thought of Shila and her jewellery. Belonging to a group like this might give her the support she needed to gain some independence.

‘So you help people’s dreams come true.’

The woman wagged a finger. ‘Not dreams, business plans.’

I tucked the leaflet into my bag.

A conversation with Brontë wafted through my head: You’ve always told me to put details into your plans, otherwise it’s just a random dream.

‘Of course,’ I said, my vision going a little misty. ‘I stand corrected.’

Meena appeared beside me ready to leave, and I said my goodbyes.

‘Shila should join the group,’ I said, once we were outside again. ‘I’m going to give her this leaflet.’

Meena shook her head sadly. ‘Shila will already know about it. The market has been running for a while.’

‘Oh. You think her father won’t let her?’ I let out a breath of frustration. ‘Why do men get the last word?’

‘I don’t know,’ she shrugged. ‘Ask him yourself. Look, they are there on that cart.’

About to disappear from view was a wooden cart being pulled by a large white ox. Hom sat in the back waving to everyone, Shila beside him. I could just make out a man holding the reins in the driver’s seat.

‘I will ask him,’ I said, making a spontaneous decision. ‘Right now.’

I sprinted after the cart as fast as my Birkenstocks and heavy bags would allow.

‘Maggie, wait!’ Meena gasped. ‘I didn’t mean it.’

‘Well, I did,’ I said, determinedly. ‘Wish me luck.’

Chapter 13

Nepal

‘This is very kind of you and your father,’ I said to Shila, trying to maintain polite eye contact with her father while he helped me from the cart, which was tilting precariously. The ox had had enough and was trying to lie down. Hom was dancing on the spot, clearly enjoying watching me wobble about.

We were outside their family home, about a mile out of the village. At least I think it was about a mile; I’d never travelled by ox before and it was difficult to judge the speed. The houses were sparse and each one was surrounded by a large plot of land. Shila’s had rows of vegetables on one side and a tangle of trees and flowers on the other. A plastic table and chairs sat outside the door and underneath was a collection of toy cars.

Her father, Govinda, didn’t speak English, but Shila was doing an admirable job of translating for us both. He waved some green leaves at the ox to get it moving and took it around the back of the house.

My plan had been to catch up with the cart and talk to Shila in front of her father about the women’s business group. But as soon as I’d flagged them down, her father had insisted on me coming back to his house to drink tea with them. I’d accepted on the basis that I’d have more chance of convincing him to let his daughter make a go of her jewellery business in a place where he felt at ease. Also, I was nosy and was curious to see a Nepalese home. So here I was.