My Story · by Yashoda Aryal

My parents gave me the name ‘Yashoda’, the first child among three siblings, which is name of mother of lord Krishna. The amazing fact is that the name of both parents in Krishna and Krishnaa. It’s already been 22 years that I got the name and am surviving on this earth. I was born in small town, Surkhet, almost 600 Kilometers far from Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. Currently I am based in Kathmandu pursuing Bachelors program of Public Health at Nobel College. I believe good education is the most important thing to help me reach my goals. Nine people from Connecticut, USA namely Barbara and John; Linda and Steve; Carol and Bruce; Joanne and Dave; and Sue Kuendig are sponsoring for my studies. Immense thanks to Jennifer Young-Hall who coordinated with them for the scholarship.

From March 18, 2009, I have started working voluntarily as ambassador for United Actions, a global project that is established for the accomplishment of Millennium Development Goals. I too am involved in Nepal Youth Red Cross Circle-Nobel College as secretary for 2009-2010, an executive member of smart club (which is public speaking enhancing club) for 2009-2010, production department head of our college magazine named ‘Origin’. I manage my expenses by teaching home tuition as for now.

So, every week I get to have direct contact with more than 100 youths who are like minded and have a spirit to do something for people of the world and have thinking of making things better. I have interests in health and wellness, climate change, child and human rights, sports (don’t want to watch others but want to play), writing and discussions, HIV and AIDS, dealing with community people, working in groups and many more.

I am an athlete, debator, orator, poetess, writer, trainee of Radio Jockey and of course always a dedicated student.

My philosophy of life is to live your own life to its fullest and don’t interfere in the lives of others.

I believe everyone has potential to follow their dreams. If you recognize your skills and talents then work hard, you will be successful in whatever you do.

I think every situation presents choices and offers hidden opportunities. If you take advantage of these opportunities, and make the right choices, your life will be happy and productive. So, I am always eager to learn new things, seize every opportunity, and do my best to choose the best path to make a good life. I never let life pass me by. So, I never miss a chance to make the best use of the opportunities I’m given. I am always eager to learn and search for new things to learn about. I usually find things strange and think why they happen. I’m always trying to find solutions for the problems that approach me.

There have been many ups and downs in my life, but I believe every experience has helped me grow as a person and brought me new insights.

I usually wake up at 6-6:30 am; freshen up and do yoga for 30-45 minutes. Take my breakfast and do a quick review of news. After that my day starts. I prepare myself if I have to conduct meetings of the Red Cross Circle at my college, since I am the secretary. I have been appointed as coordinator of sewage management of the area around our college, so I need to make up my mind how to deal with the community and the government offices. Every Saturday, I have to be prepared any time to be a speaker, grammarian or commentator in the ‘Smart Club’; I am the executive member and the only girl out of seven executive members. Smart Club is a public speaking enhancement club, which is a program youth initiative and is a platform to be updated with political, socio-economic issues at national and international levels. From Sunday to Thursday, I have to attend my college from 11am- 4:30 pm. As a dedicated student, I seldom miss my classes, submit my assignments timely and most importantly prepare presentations for my group, discussions with friends. Sometimes we may have serious talks about the topics that we are to present. I’m a tutor as well. After my college, I rush to homes of students who are waiting for me to study. At present, I’m teaching two eighth grade students and two students of third grade. It becomes almost 7:30 to 8 pm till I return home. Nepal has been a country of power cuts. At present Nepalese suffer a 16-hour load shedding. Life’s been very difficult in Kathmandu. Nepal is one of the richest countries in water and also has become one of the richest countries in power cuts, lack of water supply to residence.

In 2008, Monarchy system (a 200 year old trend) was ended with the introduction of presidential system. Mr. Pushpa Kamal Dahal (present prime minister of Nepal), was the enunciator or revolution. I saw and came to know the fights of political leaders for position. Mr. Dahal was firstly one of presidential candidates. He couldn’t get that so he negotiated with other oppositions and agreed to be the prime minister. In Mr. Dahal’s language, he will bring change in ten years but the present scenario is not digestible to the people.

Our country is an assembly of more than 100 ethnic groups. Every group has their own needs. They wants to be fulfilled by the government, they offer strikes which creates havoc in the country affecting all the sectors. Moreover, there are as many festivals of different ethnic groups, so as are the holidays in each festival. Let’s judge the scenario. In my calculation, out of 365 days, we can hardly have 250 official days. Youths are unemployed, always roam and have no output. The country is facing brain drain. Nepalese students have a wide range of knowledge in comparison to the students of many other countries, it is a vicious circle that Nepalese students are talented and the foreign countries need them, Nepal cannot provide employment as it had given qualitative education. As per knowledge, around seven thousand students in 2008 went to the United States; the trend remains the same in the UK, Australia and other European countries. It’s been fashionable to leave Nepal with the common saying “What’s the use of staying in the country”.

Nepal is being deserted day by day, the political interference by other countries, political instability, energy crisis and many more.

All these things have a direct impact on my life as well.

After my high school completion, I had to face the economic crisis personally since my dad did not return home from his posting at district. My sister, brother and I were staying in the capital, one of the most expensive cities of Nepal. My mother was jobless and unable to send us money. We couldn’t return to our place as we all were studying. However, our maternal uncles helped us to some extent by paying rent for some months. No one can feed you forever, and my uncle with problems of his own eventually had to stop his generous help. My mom came to Kathmandu and helped us by cooking food and doing all household chores for us.

I had a dream of becoming a doctor. I needed money to pursue my studies. Every path seemed blocked. I had no money, unable to pay my fees even if I would have received a scholarship.
So, my insatiable hunger for studying higher levels grew. Being the eldest sibling I had a mother, sister, and brother to look after.

If you are eager and dedicate yourself from your core of your heart, then there is always a way for you.

One of our neighbours, Nirmala Pokhrel, was also staying in the same house as we used to. She talked that she had been coordinating with Jennifer Younghall to teach some young girls in Surkhet. As an illiterate person, she again had to coordinate with Meghna Thapa for receiving money from Jennifer and sending the bills to her. Meghna Thapa, a business entrepreneur, is also voluntarily helping Jennifer in many ways. Nirmala Pokhrel had problems in communicating with Meghna Thapa, as she used to talk more English and less Nepali, being Indian. So she took me with her to be a mediator since I had good English skills. I put my problems to Nirmala Pokhrel, she agreed to put my words to Meghna Thapa. We both went to her and talked about my talents versus my problems. Meghna Thapa really was really happy to help me out and put my problems to Jennifer Younghall. She emailed her about me. Then, Jennifer gave me a positive response, saying that she would help me.

I really had a hard time. I didn’t have basic computer skills. She asked me to send her emails, which I regularly did. Most importantly, I sent her all my certificates, photographs and a letter to her via Meghna Thapa. Jennifer organized a dinner party to the people who were supposed to help me. They agreed to help me for my studies for four years. My commitment is that after I will get established after completing my education, I will be supporting a girl for her education.

In the mean time, I was trying my best to compete for a scholarship in medicine. Unfortunately, as usual, bad luck favored me. I used to only see my name on waiting list, so I left medicine. I made up my mind to switch to other subjects, and the best option was public health. When I approached for admission in 2006, all the seats were reserved. So, again I had to lose one more year. I was sitting stale, with no course of study or job. I was in search of jobs; again Mehna Thapa put an opportunity in front of me. She gave me a phone number. It was a call center; I took my interview on phone and was called for the final interview. It worked for me; I got a job as a sales executive. I had to work at night. I used to wake up at 12 midnight since it was day in USA. The call center did business in websites. I got a lot of experience at that time. I came to learn about USA, strengthen my speaking skills and pursuing capacity for their structure work environment.

I worked there for seven months, until the time my sponsors called for me. They were still waiting to help with my studies. The admissions were open in Nobel college and so I enrolled. I had finally made it!