I am Patali Thami. I was born in a poor family in small village of Sindhupalchok district and was deprived of having basic rights including right to food. Although I was keen to study at school but my parents could not send me school due to the poverty. I was compelled to work with land owners’ farms as a wage labor. I used to get Rs 400 as return to my labor. However, the amount remained insufficient to run my family members. So my father used to work as a mason in the village. One day my mother went to district headquarters to busy some necessary household materials. However, she did not return back home again. Her whereabouts still remain unknown. The incident also put fire in my burning life. Finally, my father decided me to marry to shift my burden of education to other family. I got marriage at 14 and I had a son and a daughter at the age of 21. However, the household where I was living as a family members was suffering from the problem of landlessness. Due to the lack of own land we were deprived of getting basic rights including right to property. At the beginning I regret of getting married with landless family. To conduct all the businesses of my house I decided to go for foreign employment. However, the foreign life was also pitiable for me. After earning some money I decided to return to my homeland.
Although the problem of landlessness remained still same in my house the situation of our society remained transformative and progressive. The District Land Rights Forum was facilitating landless and land-poor farmers for the acquisition of land to them. I decided to take part the activities of the forum. I was acquainted in different legal provisions of land rights including the rights of landless and land-poor farmers. My capacity was gradually strengthened due to the day to day interaction with different people in the village. I have been facilitating different landless and land-poor farmers for ensuring their rights over land. I have also acquired joint land ownership now. Due to the continuous involvement in land rights movement I got the opportunity to lead DLRF of Sindhupalchok district. Now I am leading the land rights movement of my district as a chairperson of DLRF. I am committed to work together for landless and land-poor farmers to establish their rights. I have been also involving to ensure the reconstruction processes of landless and land-poor families of my district.
