Even though I did quite good during my +2 and Bachelor’s, I was weak in Math and Science in school. In school, I was a back bencher, yet wanted to be the center of attraction but teachers used to judge students according to our academic result. However, I liked speaking in the mass and my friends even liked the way I delivered speeches. My Social Studies teacher commented that I was speaking like a journalist. That’s when I decided that I would choose Journalism later in life; I would become a journalist who would be involved in changing the face of the nation. I was about to finish my +2 in which I tried my best in becoming good both in studies and in extracurricular activities. I joined a lifestyle magazine as an intern and I got a chance to work in a government owned institution. I wasn’t interested in the job though but earnings there helped me and my family financially. On the 29th month of work I came across a vacancy on a TV station as a news reader. I applied and they took …

“No sons, only daughters?” was the question my relatives always asked my mother whenever they saw her with me and my sister. Those words bothered me and I always wondered why everyone gave so much priority to sons. I used to look at my mother’s face to find out if she was upset too but she would respond calmly “Yes, only two daughters.” However, I felt that the question did affect her. Then one day while enjoying the view of beautiful sunset from the roof of my uncle’s house, I witnessed something weird on a neighbor’s terrace. A girl, apparently of my age, was beaten by her grandmother because she broke a glass while doing the dishes. “If you don’t learn to do your chores properly now, how will you take care of your family after marriage?” Unlike her brother, she wasn’t sent to school as her family believed that their son would look after them in future while she would be married off. I felt confused and scared. Being a girl, would I also have to face the same problem? If my parents …

When I started working in a hospital in Bangalore, it was more challenging than I thought it would be. The main problem was communication. People over there hardly spoke in English or Hindi. They preferred their local language Kannada. Even duty police who came for MLC cases didn’t speak Hindi or English. Not only them, most staff members of the hospital also spoke only in their local language. Patients used to come with different health problems and they shared about their problems in Kannada. I felt bad when they spoke to me of their pain but I couldn’t help them just because I didn’t understand their language. But I didn’t sit quietly. I asked for help from my colleagues. I started to learn the words which were spoken frequently in the hospital. Slowly I started to speak with staff and then patients in Kannada though I couldn’t do it perfectly. I started using gestures more than words to communicate. Some patients used to laugh at me but most of them appreciated my attempt at le…

I used to live with my parents in a village in the Eastern part of Nepal in an underdeveloped Madhesi community. People there were very ‘backward’. They were unaware about the importance of education. So no children in that society ever went to school. But my parents were different. They understood the importance of education and decided to send me to a private school, which was far from my village. But the society was against this decision so my parents shifted to town where they took a room on rent. We had a single room where my mom managed a kitchen, my brother and I managed a space to study and it was our bedroom, too. Struggles for my parents begun. As my father was the only earner in my family, life was becoming very difficult. I didn’t have access to many facilities that other children got but I never complained because I understood the situation. I always worked hard when it came to my education. I used to buy second hand books from my seniors and used to study. I never ce…

My father is a hard working person who has always made his family his first priority. He is a retired teacher who served Nepal Government for 25 years or so. His first school was located in Jajarkot away from our village- Gaughat in Banke district where I was born. Later I started going to a nearby school and my father was the head teacher there. As he was transferred frequently, my school kept changing. My home changed, so did my community and my friends. I remember studying in class five in a government school and thus being ‘downgraded’ to four in a private school. My mother was always busy with household activities until she ran a shop in Dolpa, my father’s new work place. There again, I was sent to a new school. Till my S.L.C. I already had the experience of two private schools and three government schools and felt the difference in the quality of education in public and private schools. Despite that, every new place presented new challenges and I learned to cope with them. I …

Soon as I landed in the US, I realized how much my country had been left behind in the developmental race. During my time there, I got involved in civic engagement through my college student association and I met many passionate people who wished to see positive changes in others and not just themselves. I remained concerned about Nepal, its people, politics and economics. I started writing, reading about it in many of my classes as well. By the time I was graduating, I had an increased understanding and I was looking for ways to put my education into use. When I interviewed for various jobs, I realized that I wanted to work in my own country where my help was needed the most and to work with those whom I could connect to the most. I wanted to come back with a plan and some savings. But the April earthquake happened and I felt like nothing was more urgent than Nepal. I was awake day and night, trying to chat with friends and family collecting information about resources and help an…

While doing my Bachelor’s in Engineering from India, I got to meet many budding entrepreneurs and participated in various seminars and workshops related with entrepreneurship. After getting my degree in Mechanical Engineering, I could’ve applied for any job in India that paid well, but that wasn’t my plan. I came back to Nepal as I wanted to do something significant in my own country. Even though I had been working full-time as the Assistant Service Manager in a big corporation house in Birgunj, my passion for entrepreneurship didn’t let me be satisfied with my job. I joined TFN because I felt that it will give me a platform to learn more about rural areas of Nepal and the local problems I might be able to solve as an entrepreneur in future. Even after being selected, I was in dilemma whether to accept the offer or not as I had already started my own venture. But then I realized that if I’m to run a high value enterprise, I must first explore myself more and enhance myself. So I a…

During my school days, I had a friend whose parents used to quarrel a lot so he spent most of his times in our home. My parents had admitted me to a private school since there was no public school close by. Despite being farmers and having just a rice mill for income generation, they didn’t compromise on money when it came to my studies. However, since the economic condition of my friend’s parents wasn’t that good, he was sent to a public school. We used to go to school together as the way was the same. I always wished we could go to the same school together. Though we were in different schools, we were studying in the same level. I had to help him in many subjects. I always wondered why the way of teaching in same levels in different schools was so different. My parents would feel proud when they saw me teaching my friend. I couldn’t figure out why he kept saying that Math, Science and English were very difficult to understand. I knew it wasn’t his fault. I knew it was his teacher…

I was born in a small village in Bara district. Despite financial constraints, my parents worked really hard and I had a good childhood. I got an opportunity to study in a good private school. When I was in the ninth grade, I was positioned as the Secretary of English Club. It gave me a platform to develop my leadership skills as I had to collaborate and organize quizzes and essay writing competitions. I even participated in many inter-school quiz contests, which boosted my confidence. These exposures made me realize how important it is to be good not only in academics but also in extra-curricular activities. While being involved in the Junior Red Cross Circle as the Secretary and volunteering in Blood Donation Campaigns, First Aid trainings and Sanitation programs, I got to interact with many students from different schools. I always liked working with youth. After joining college, I led many engineering-related projects on solar energy and electricity metering system. I also …

“If I had gotten a chance to complete my studies, I would have become so much successful today,” I remember my mother saying this to me and my siblings. She had studied only till Grade 4 and dropped out of school. Not only her, most children her age discontinued their education due to various reasons. My mother owned a small shop and run the business as her source of income. She was discriminated in many ways. She was deprived of many opportunities just because she wasn’t educated. So she wanted us to study well. She wanted us to be financially independent even after marriage so that no one could discriminate against us. I really wanted to do something to solve the problem of gender disparity in education. I always used to wonder that if I was not born in the capital city and my parents weren’t literate, I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to acquire good education. Especially in rural areas, I’ve seen that girls are always discriminated against boys or not even sent to schools. Even…