Driving Story 1
Yes, you’re absolutely right — the article “Abandoned Dilshova Discovers Philanthropy” was published in 2010, and it captures a powerful moment in time when Dilshova Shrestha’s work was gaining public attention.
That timing matters. It means:
- The story reflects early-stage impact of Aamako Ghar, before broader institutional recognition.
- It documents grassroots caregiving before digital fundraising or formal NGO registration became widespread.
- It’s a valuable historical reference for Console Mission’s research — showing how compassion-led models emerged in Nepal even without donor infrastructure.
If you’re archiving or citing this for Driving Stories, we can label it as:
Source: myRepublica, 2010
Type: Media-verified caregiving narrative
Follow-up: Console Mission conducted direct visits to validate and document current status
Dilshova Shrestha’s day begins at a time when most of Kathmandu is sleeping. She gets up by 4 am and helps 30 elderly women and 36 children freshen up. She also literally feeds them with breakfast and the same scene repeats during meal and dinner time.
Besides that, she takes the responsibility of doing their laundry, looking after their basic needs, taking them to doctors for check up, and when any member of her trust passes away, she also performs their final rites.[break]
Dilshova, 57, who was abandoned by her husband for ‘not being able to give birth to a son’, has been strictly following this routine for the last 13 years at the Old Age Management Social Welfare Trust. Popularly known as Aamako Ghar (Mother’s Home), she established the trust all on her own.
Life was different for Dilshova some forty years back. A young girl then, she was on cloud nine after having fallen deeply in love. Overtime, she got close to the man of her life and ultimately decided to tie the nuptial knot with him.
But life took a nasty turn immediately after she started living with him at his rented room. Just within a couple of days, she got a rude awakening when she realized that even the utensils and furniture in the room didn’t belong to him.
Dilshova, who was born and grew up in a well-off family in Thankot, Kathmandu, didn’t want to break her relationship with him even after learning that her partner was not as well-off as he had presented himself to be.
“After learning about his reality, my father urged me to return home,” she, surrounded by elderly women and children, recalls. “But I didn’t want to break his heart just because he was not well-off.”
For her, it was really hard getting accustomed with the lifestyle of her partner. They had to worry for every square meal. “So much so that my first baby (a boy) died immediately after delivery due to poor diet during my pregnancy,” Dilshova, trying hard to control her emotions, recounted. She was 18 then.
When she was pregnant for the second time, her mother helped her with money and food so that she could give birth to a healthy baby. Nineteen-year-old Dilshova gave birth to a daughter. This time, the baby, as she had prayed, was healthy.
However, little had she imagined that the birth of a daughter, and not a son, would go on to become the reason for her marriage to fall apart. When his daughter was of a marriageable age, her husband married another woman in the hope that she might give birth to a son.
TURNING POINT
In the meantime, she met a lady teacher who soothed her saying that being the mother of a son doesn’t necessarily make one happy. “Let’s go to Tripureshwar, where I will show you the plight of an old woman, who is a mother of three rich sons,” Dilshova recollects the teacher as saying.
Dilshova was deeply moved on seeing the miserable condition of the octogenarian lady, who was kept separately along the aisle of the house. The pathetic condition she saw there changed her perception toward being a mother of a son. “I started taking care of her at her own home,” she said. After Dilshova’s two-year-long care, the woman became quite healthy.
While traveling from Ravi Bhawan – where she owned a house – to Tripureshwar everyday for two years, she used to see many women lying along the busy roads. She used to get deeply hurt on seeing them lie on the roads in scorching heat, heavy rainfall and even storms. “Then I told Aama [mother] from Tripureshwar that I would visit her only once a week as I planned to pick other abandoned women from the streets.”
In 1997, she picked five women from the streets and brought them to her house at Ravi Bhawan. She vacated five rooms in her house that had been given on rent. After that, she gathered many such women who were discarded or divorced or raped or deceived by their loved ones. Some of the women that Dilshova picked were on the verge of death.
While unfolding her experiences, she recollected an incident of a woman whom she picked from a hole along the riverbed near Teku. She took many of these women to the hospital immediately after picking them from the streets, garbage disposal sites or other public places.
Later, she also started taking care of street children. Currently, there are 30 aamas and 36 children at her Trust.
Among the 30 aamas – ranging from 50 to 100 years – four are paralyzed, four are blind, four others are dumb and some others are partially disabled. The majority of the 36 children are orphans.
In the last 13 years, at least 80 women have been nursed by the kind-hearted Dilshova. Of them, she estimates, about 25 have passed away. She also performed their funeral rites. Taking a cursory look around the Trust, one gets a feel that Dilshova is looking after an 86-member happy family which is multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-religious.
“There isn’t any form of discrimination within the premises of this home. Look at her, she is Bengali. Some are Christians. We had a Muslim woman, who died earlier, in this family. There was one Marwadi didi as well,” a smiling Dilshova explains.
Lately, it has become a regular feature for the police, hospitals and people from the neighborhood to bring abandoned elderly woman and children to Aamako Ghar. As she doesn’t demand application or other evidential documents unlike other similar centers in the town, people prefer Dilshova’s Home.
HOW DOES SHE MANAGE?
In the beginning, she struggled very hard to give continuity to her humanitarian endeavor. Her building at Ravi Bhawan was a big help initially because she didn’t have to generate funds to pay rent. For other expenses, she started to dig into her bank balance. However, initially, as she recalls, it was very difficult to give continuity to the mission that she instinctively began without any concrete plan and without any support from any individual or institution. In the beginning, even the neighbors, relatives and even members in her maternal family didn’t like her idea.
“When I started gathering people from streets and other dirty places, everyone said I have gone crazy. They were irritated as I picked people who were mad, disabled and the like,” she said.
But gradually media persons, some philanthropic individuals and organizations recognized her noble endeavor and supported her. Over the years, the number of people who support her has increased drastically.
Presently, the major fund to run the Home comes from her daughter and son-in-law, who stay in the United States. They contribute Rs 20,000 a month for operational costs.
By now, the situation has improved dramatically. People frequently visit the Home and they voluntarily express their wish to support. “Many people on their birthdays, marriage anniversaries or any other special occasions come and feed these aamas and children. Some offer fruits, some contribute sacks of rice, pulses, vegetables, fruits or even money,” she said.
As all those staying with her are either senior citizens or children, she has to frequently visit hospitals. Those who used to frown at her request to provide health services for them at a subsidized rate now readily provide free treatment to the elderly women as well as children taken by her. “Now, there are many doctors, police officers, and members from several organizations, schools, who gladly support me,” she explained.
Neighbors, relatives and others who used to get irritated with her in the past have now turned friendly and supportive. Washing machines, solar panels and inverters installed in the building have been contributed by generous individuals.
Her work has inspired many. At present, students from KMC College and St Xavier’s work as volunteers at her Home. Sometime back, she even tried to hire helping hands upon a proposal by one sponsor who was ready to pay Rs 6,000 a month for their salary. But the idea didn’t work. “Those who come here with the intention of earning will no doubt be dejected. Here, one can only serve, can’t earn,” she explained.
GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
The government felicitated her once but hasn’t provided any support so far. Dilshova, who can read and write only in Nepali, didn’t want to request the government for any support. “They told me to come up with a proposal. How is that possible for a woman like me who can’t even read and write English?” she said.
When asked about the memories that she has of her estranged husband, she said, “In a way, I am extremely grateful to him. If I were married to a loving man, probably my entire life would have been spent in making the man happy and taking his care. But my husband’s behavior led me to this situation. Indeed, it’s very difficult to understand the workings of God.”
