KULMAN

KULMAN (30) is from the Nepali city of Surket (located near to the Indian border). He cannot remember his mother because she left when he was just 5 years of age. Dad never remarried. His dad is poor and frail – he has always struggled to make any money. Their small house is made of a type of pressed mud.

When Kulman was just 5 years of age he became very sick – the hospital doctors could not diagnose the problem. His neighbour took him to church where he was healed. So Kulman and his sister accompanied him to church every week. He came to know about Empower Asia because his pastor was good friends with our Nepali board chair at the time.

Kulman was a good boy at our home. A couple of years ago he graduated from university with a degree in Bio-Technology where he attained very high grades. Along with 70 others, he applied to a Canadian organisation for a scholarship to study water resource management. He was one of four successful applicants. Now he studies towards a M.Sc in Water Resource Management. He is being developed to work either in an NGO or with the government as a senior manager of water management at a national level. His Canadian scholarship paid for his tuition fees plus he received a cash allowance of NZ$250/month. Big money for a lad from a poor background. 

Right now he is interning for the UK Department of International Development and is an active EMPOWER ASIA NEPAL board member for our Kathmandu based work. He has a big future with many possibilities including studying for either a civil engineering degree or perhaps even a Ph.D.