Mahadev started pulling rickshaws when he was 12.

He recalls, "Mine was a huge family. We didn't have our own land to farm. My father was a very poor man and he couldn't afford to send my brothers or me to school. I had to earn money in order to help my father feed us, so I had no other option than to start pulling rickshaws."

Now 28, Mahadev lives in Sunsari District, around 650 kilometres south-east of Kathmandu, with his wife Tehlun and four sons. Both parents are illiterate; for Mahadev this means pulling a rickshaw is still his only choice.

All his life Mahadev used a hired rickshaw. Every day he had to pay 20 Rs. to the owner, whether he made that amount or not.

He says, "Sometimes I used to make 20 Rs., sometimes I would not even make 10 Rs. There were times when I hardly used to get one passenger. Yet I had to pay the owner the daily amount. If I couldn't make that much, I had to either ask my father for the money again or my friends. It was such a terrifying headache - everyday."

Some nights he would have to send his sons to bed on an empty stomach. His wife gave birth on an empty stomach as well.

Throughout this Tehlun remained ever supportive.  She started working in other people's fields, often for food instead of money.

Tehlun says, "I used to get some ounces of rice, or vegetables, or some produce from the field, out of which I used to prepare dinner for my family."

Mahadev's struggle came to an end when his friend told him about a new scheme that World Vision International Nepal (WVIN) Sunsari Area Development Programme (ADP) had introduced, for rickshaw drivers.

Mahadev says, "My friend, a fellow rickshaw puller, a poor man like me, came that night and said that he'd enrolled in the income generation project, introduced by World Vision, and now he has his own rickshaw. He explained to me the whole procedure.

"I couldn't sleep the whole night thinking it was such a golden opportunity. Though I had
a thousand doubts in my head, I went and got myself also enrolled onto the programme and now I have my own rickshaw."

Mahadev's circumstances started changing after he got his own rickshaw. No longer had he to worry about paying the owner of the rickshaw rent.

He says, "Since the day I got my own rickshaw, I've had this sudden energy, this full force that I work more and harder. I try to get up as early as possible and work the whole day, get passengers and make more trips possible and earn more. And luckily, or should I say by the grace of the Lord I do make more money now."

Mahadev now is a content man. He's not worried about his family or his sons. His wife still continues to work in other people's field and help him. He's now sending his eldest son to school.

Seeing all this, Tehlun says, "World Vision has done a great favour to my husband. Now, slowly we are thinking of getting our own land as well. My husband doesn't worry any more about paying the rickshaw owner. We never got the chance to get educated. However my husband intends to educate all our sons."

Not only Mahadev's family but also 142 other families of Khanar VDC have benefited from the Rickshaw Income Generation Project (IGP).

Khagendra Sijapati, Micro Enterprise Development Coordinator, Sunsari ADP, says, "The Income Generation Project has benefited more than 100 families in this area and quite a lot more in some of our other working areas. We've selected the poorest and the most in need rickshaw pullers and enrolled them on this project. These families do not have their own land as well. The project is very simple, and payments are made in instalments and the rickshaw pullers get the rickshaws registered in their own name."

Seeing the good thing in his life and getting encouraged to better himself Mahadev says, "I like World Vision, for they respect poor people like me. It's not only the Income Generation Projects, I've heard village people make their lives better by World Vision's other projects as well. I love the way they work for the poor. Look at my life now, now I can sleep peacefully at night. Now I'm a rickshaw driver with my own rickshaw - it's pulling my life up."