Home: Ichangu Narayan, Kathmandu, Bagmati

Education: B.A. LLB, Nepal Law Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal

I grew up in Kathmandu in a typical joint family, where my grandparents would give me money for chocolates every morning before going to school and cover for me when I screwed something up. Growing up wasn’t difficult. I was sent to a prestigious private school to study. My siblings and I were highly pampered. However, we had to face financial difficulties at one point in life, which taught me how to deal with it; I’ve learned to distinguish between my wants and my needs.

I’m a sensitive person. Whenever I watch a sad documentary or read a sad book, I feel very bad. An incident that struck me the most was when I saw street kids at New Road while I had gone there with my mom. I was also a kid back then. Their clothes were dirty and torn and they were running around other people asking for money and food. When I asked about where their parents were, my mom replied that they must not have any, and even if they did they didn’t care enough.

That incident had made quite an impact upon me. It just didn’t feel right because while I was pampered, those kids were not even cared for, while I had so much those kids had none. Encountering situations like these always made me feel sadder as I could do nothing.

I knew there had to be some way to feel good about myself and the world. I knew I had to do something, because feeling bad was not enough. So, when I came across the fellowship, it looked like a great opportunity to begin with. The reason I wanted to do this fellowship is because I am done feeling bad. Twenty years down the line, I want to be able to look back and be proud of myself for the contribution I have made to make this world a little better.

With law as my background, I aspire to empower my students and my community and make them aware of their basic rights. I also want to make them to know their self-worth and inspire them to dream big. My post-fellowship plan is to work in a law/education ministry and bring changes in the system so that voices of people of marginalized and underdeveloped societies are heard.

I am confident that this will be the most challenging experience of my life. Besides getting to touch and inspire children’s life, this fellowship for me is a journey towards self-discovery.