A remote mountainous district in Eastern Nepal. She and her husband rent land and grow black cardamom with a third of the production going to the la
nd owner. On the side, the couple runs a small tea shop, selling cold drinks, eggs and biscuits. She and her husband take turns working at the shop and the farm and she claims to be doing okay, not terribly good, but just okay. Her life's singular objective is to educate her children well enough so that they can work in offices.
Lahjung is one of a third of Nepalis who have benefitted from the remarkable progress on poverty reduction the country has experienced in the last two decades despite overwhelming challenges of conflict and political instability. Yet, she is also one of almost a half of the country's population who may not be poor based on the national definition of poverty but has to work constantly to make ends meet. She may have some savings, but barely enough to cope if a small shock such as poor rainfall wipes out their cardamom yields, or an illness or an accident consigns her husband to bed for a month or two.
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