The Blog

Yami studies business at Padma Kanya Campus Dillibazzar. Her favorite subject is economics—and her dream is to work in accounting for an NGO.

Yami is disabled, but wasn’t born that way. As a teenager, she started having back pain and within two months her feet were paralyzed. At age 16, Yami was admitted to a hospital in Kathmandu, where she received surgery for a spinal tumor. Whether a result of the disease or surgery, Yami cannot walk and must use a wheel chair.

Despite her physical challenges, Yami is an athlete. She loves sports, especially basketball, and looks forward to Saturday morning basketball games. She also competes in field events whenever she can and she swims, which is unusual in Nepal. Swimming is hard, she says, because she can only use her arms. But Yami maintains a winner’s outlook:

“It’s bad luck that I am disabled, but I’m a fighter” she says. “Because I am educated, I can compete with anyone for opportunities.”