For women like Lanni, Mina and Mayalu, friendships have become more than emotional support—it’s a pathway to healing, leadership and lifelong transformation.
Each of these women belongs to a Self-Help Group supported by The Leprosy Mission Australia. While they come from different families and communities across Nepal, their stories reveal something powerful in common: they’ve each found a circle of women to walk alongside—sharing strength, knowledge, and solidarity.
Lanni: Laughing toward healing
Lanni, 50, lives with her husband, children and grandchildren in a multi-generational farming household. When pale patches began appearing on her skin, she sought answers for six months. It wasn’t until she attended a local awareness session that someone recognised the signs of leprosy and referred her for treatment.
Her reaction surprised the doctor. “Why are you laughing?” they asked.
“Because I can get better now,” Lanni replied. “Now I know what’s happening to my body.”
In most communities, a leprosy diagnosis still brings fear or stigma—but thanks to earlier community education programs, her family and neighbours responded with care and understanding. Through her Self-Help Group, Lanni not only found practical support but a way to give back.
Lanni now chairs both her group and its cooperative, mentoring other women and helping them access training in farming, gender equity, hygiene, and disaster preparedness. Her story shows the power of female friendship and leadership in breaking cycles of poverty and shame.
Mina: Quiet growth, strong roots
Mina’s journey is one of steady perseverance. With the help of her group, she expanded her goat herd to 27 and learned to turn goat dung into compost using shaded pits and proper drainage—sustainable practices she was taught through project training.
She now saves 500 rupees a month with her cooperative—a small but powerful act that protects her family from future emergencies. Her success shows how learning and support among women in Self-Help Groups can ripple outward—benefiting not just one household, but entire communities.
Mayalu: Bold beginnings and growing leadership
Diagnosed with leprosy at just 13, Mayalu quietly sought treatment, hiding her fears of social rejection. Her family stood by her, and years later, she volunteered to join a new Self-Help Group supported by The Leprosy Mission. Because she was active in her community and spoke well, she was invited to serve as chair—a role she still holds today.
Through the group, she accessed small loans and training that helped her start several businesses—raising pigs, opening a food stall, selling insurance, and now raising goats. Despite some setbacks, she recently earned enough to help send her brother-in-law overseas for work and now supports her parents and young nephews at home.
“I’m happy with the help I was given by the cooperative,” she says. “If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have been able to take any loans. Now, I can look after my family as well.”
For all three women, the friendships formed within their Self-Help Groups have been life-changing. These are bonds built on trust, shared challenges, and the commitment to rise together.
On International Day of Friendship, we celebrate women like Lanni, Mina and Mayalu—not because they walk the same path, but because they show what’s possible when women support women through friendship, shared learning, and community care.
And that circle of friendship doesn’t stop in Nepal.
Through their generosity, encouragement and prayers, supporters in Australia—women and men alike—are part of that friendship too. Every donation, every act of solidarity, helps build a world where friendship leads to freedom, and no one has to walk alone.
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