ThinkInk - Session 1 (Dolpa)

December 10, 2021

A few months back we started UDAAN- Chapter 3 and Chapter 5 for the students of Dolpa currently residing in Kathmandu and the students of Crystal Mountain School. We were super excited to meet them in person and start the Second Batch of Lokopakar ThinkInk.

Lokopakar is a youth organization that focuses on the development of youth by providing them a safe platform to share their stories through various programs without the fear of being judged. ThinkInk is one of the programs of Lokopakar which is targeted in building thinking and reflecting into rote learning.

We were finally meeting with the students who had connected us through virtual means. We were equally excited and happy at the same time. 

25 students gathered in the hall of their residence at Boudha and we began the session. Mr. Pravin Raj Joshi began the session by trying to make the participants feel comfortable by sharing about him. Our first aim was to make the students realize the importance of stories while introducing themselves. Team Lokopakar introduced themselves in two ways, first including basic information and second by connecting personal stories with introduction. The main aim of this activity was to make the participants understand the ways to stand out through their introduction.

After a short introduction by Mr. Joshi himself, then we began with the Activity of the day. We divided the participants into 5 groups with 5 members each and gave each group a list of 15 words like Red, Snowfall, Respect, and so on. Each group was given 10 minutes to write a story including the words given in the list and deliver it. 

It was a delight to see them work hard together in a Team and write a story. Each group delivered their stories which were very unique.  The stories that they have written reflect their culture, village, and livelihood. We asked everyone about their thoughts on why we conducted this activity. Each one of them had different answers like Time Management and Cultural Exchange. We explained how every individual sees things from different perspectives even in the same situation due to which each group has different stories when they were given the same set of words. We also wanted the participants to think out of the box which they did with their fascinating stories.

With a huge round of applause for themselves, we began the next half of the session where participants were asked to introduce themselves with an interesting story about their life. Some stories awed us, some were emotional and some made us laugh to the fullest. Certain stories became the highlight of the session:

• Our first speaker shared how he mispronounced ‘Eraser’ as ‘Elaser’. He also shared that he hurt himself with a pointed pencil in his head when he blocked himself with his hand while his teacher was about to slap him.

• Our second speaker started by explaining the meaning of his name. He explained the meaning of his first name ‘Urken’ as the name of the god in Buddhism. Similarly, his middle name Phurba means Thursday in his language. He shared the story that he was kept at a monastery back in his village to learn language and discipline from Lama. Once he missed his home and ran away from the monastery and lied to his mother that food supplies had finished, hence he came at that time.

• Our third speaker shared how she belongs to the lower class and is discriminated against in her village. She got emotional while she shared and needed some space for herself.

• Our fourth speaker shared that she came to Kathmandu for her schooling and she was discriminated against by her classmates and teachers just because she could not communicate properly in English and Nepali. Not just her, but her friends were also discriminated against because of this sole reason.

• Our fifth speaker shared how he ran away from school with his 3 friends but got caught up by the teacher and got suspended for 3 days. He was happy to be suspended but his seniors in the village started to say that he is spoiled now. He felt bad about it.

• Our sixth speaker shared how she and her elder sister went to a nearby stream one day and she saved her from drowning in that stream. So if her elder sister gets angry with her, she says, “Didn't I save you last time?” But now she has already stopped saying that.

• Our seventh speaker shared how she lost her father due to liver cancer this year. And it has been very difficult for her. But she has been trying to cope up with this loss and has not been able to focus on anything.

• Our eighth speaker shared how she used to secure her first position in her class during her Kindergarten. Her parents thought she would be first again in Grade 1 so they sent her in a new dress but she failed this time. Now she does not like to study because of that incident.

• Our ninth speaker shared how her happiest moment has always been picking "Yarsagumba". It is her favorite as she gets to be with her family and enjoy each and every moment. She also gets to eat delicious foods prepared by her family. But due to the situation last year she was not able to pick Yarsagumba. She looks forward to picking Yarsagumba.

We were overwhelmed with each story. Some participants were shy so they promised to share their story after a few months at the end of the ThinkInk workshop. This was one of the most special sessions for us, though we couldn’t go to Dolpa, Dolpa came to us this time. Looking forward to meeting these young minds soon to learn and grow more with them.