The Story of Sumi Bhotia
Taking the CCF training on Menstrual Hygiene a step further, Sumi Bhotia has started her own business to create Menstrual Pad Kits for her community in the remote regions of Eastern Nepal.
Sumi Bhotia lives in far East Nepal, in the region called Sankhuwasabha. In March 2021, she was one of the main volunteers who accompanied the CCF team on their two week Menstrual Hygiene Training program through Arun Valley. Through over half a dozen villages in a journey spanning nearly 100 miles along the valley floor, Sumi sat with other women from the Lhomi community as they shared stories of their experiences with menstruation, many talking about it openly for the first time in their lives.
Living in one of the world’s deepest valleys, in a far corner of the Himalayas, means many resources for everyday life are limited. For Lhomi women, this means practices of “free bleeding” during their menstrual cycle and/or using scraps of cloth have been the norm for generations. In more recent years, the younger women have taken to using disposable sanitary pads, but these are difficult – not to mention expensive – to procure.
These conversations, and the positive response she saw come out of them, inspired Sumi to do something radical: she decided to start her own business – a one stop shop for women's needs in her community.
Having learned to make DIY menstrual pads during CCF’s training in March of 2021, Sumi started by buying a second-hand sewing machine to speed up the process and experiment with training others.
Ever since she was little, Sumi had loved to sew. For many years, she put this skill to work stitching clothes for her two small children and her husband, a furniture maker in their local community. Now, she says, she is teaching her kids to sew and make their own pads as well.
Sumi, like many others in the Lhomi community, typically migrates back and forth seasonally between her village and Kathmandu. She chose to set up her business in Kathmandu because sourcing materials was much easier.
Once this decision had been made, Sumi began making full sanitary pad kits, as well as traditional clothing, and marketing it to the people back in the villages of Sankhuwasabha. As word spread, customers from all across the Arun Valley began to order her goods. Since getting the products from Kathmandu to the villages was no easy process, customers often come bearing orders from multiple families in the area.
Should you doubt Sumi’s business acumen, just imagine what it takes to orchestrate this supply and production chain across the remote mountain region. With Sumi’s main shop in Kathmandu, any order from the village sets off a cross-country cascade of work: fabric and supplies must be shipped in from India, sewn and transformed in the Kathmandu Valley, and finally flown into Sankhuwasabha, all before being carried the remaining miles along the Arun Valley floor to be delivered to the village in question.
As Sumi readily admits, developing her business has been far from easy. She says the cost of doing business this way is high. To make the pads, she has to buy a variety of fabrics, and the global economic ripples of inflation have worked their way into Nepal, making costs skyrocket. She often goes to get the fabric herself, carrying bolts of cloth and waterproof padding by hand and rickshaw through the streets of Kathmandu.
Despite all this, last year Sumi took out a $6,800 loan to grow her business and set up a shop. Though the interest rate on this loan is high, she’s been able to hire four other staff members to keep up with the demand. As she looks forward to the future, she is happy that she is teaching her children to be independent, creative, and industrious.
Traditionally, most Lhomi women in Kathmandu sustain their lives and earn income by making local liquor. Sumi’s goal is to inspire her peers to set up their own business and branch out for themselves. As her business grows, she is planning to provide sewing workshops to facilitate this process.
Though Sumi lives far away from the Arun Valley and her family in Sankhuwasabha, she is a role model for many in her community and young women around the world. Her children and her village see her as a fighter, someone who will always have their back.
The work of the Conscious Connections Foundation is to feed that fire and help new sparks shine.
Help us create the space to imagine new possibilities like the one Sumi has breathed into life.