Sujeeta Sharma was married to Anil Kumar Sharma of Balara 4 Sarlahi, Nepal nearly 20 years ago. She has been an ambitious lady with plenty of wishes for herself, her family, and her children.
Mrs. Sujeeta’s father has a high status in the society. However, she was married to a middle class family. Worse, her husband turned out to be an alcoholic who cared neither for the two children born within 5 years of the marriage nor herself. In fact, he has been physically assaulting her from time to time .Sujeeta, who has otherwise cursing her fate, attended the Woman Empowerment Training organized by the KAKA Community Learning Centre (KAKA CLC) of Balara -4. She took her training seriously and benefited substantially as noted below
Given her participation in the training programme, Sujeeta decided to change her unruly husband and improve upon the lot of her family. She first talked to her husband and made him realize that he had not been behaving well with her or children. Such behavior might be due to heavy drinking. She further told him what might be an appropriate behavior for a father of two children and a husband of a woman who came from a respectable family. Realizing that Anil was listening to her, she set three goals for him: “Consider (1) having dinner together; (2) avoiding drinking, and (3) spending time with the children.” She went further and promised him, “If you do these, we will be a happy family. I will also prepare good food for you every day.”
The behavioral modification scheme that Sujeeta planned and implemented brought positive outcomes. Anil has stopped drinking, quarreling, and assaulting her. When Anil started responding to Sujeeta´s goals, she also started serving him dishes he liked. He has been spending time with the children and taking them to school. This change has been a talking point among other women of the village, and they are also asserting with their husbands who have been ignoring them. Thus, the training organized by KAKA CLC empowered Sujeeta to be a change agent; she modified behavior of her 41-year-old husband and became a model for women in the village and Anil is a changed man.