Deepa Ghising remembers being fascinated by how professionally soldiers of the Nepal Army handled clashes during the 2017 elections, and defused the situation. She decided there and then on a military career.

“Their uniforms, bearing, and the way they conducted themselves was so impressive I decided that I would also become a solider one day,” the 20-year-old recalls.

So, when the UK Defence Ministry announced in 2018 that the Gurkha Brigade would start recruiting Nepali women for the first time, Ghising was among the 500 young women across Nepal who started training in private centres.

Read also:

Time has come for a Gurkha peace corps, David Seddon

A military-migrant economy, Amanda Chisholm