A journey to bring change with VOF

My journey with World Pulse started on 2009, in my freshman year at Asian University for Women, when my senior Sunita Basnet had mailed me a link and told me, “This might interest you”. It was the World Pulse we blink, and for the last 2 years I have been following the many articles and news that women all over the world have posted. These stories not only inspired me but even made me think about similarity of situations women face everywhere. Every time I come across news regarding women and children, I share it as much as I can. I had never planned on applying to the VOF since I have always been unsure about whether I’ll be able to give justice to the articles of the issues related to women that have always been close to my heart. But then, something made me realize that unless I try, my voices would never get heard.

On that evening, I had just finished my work as an intern in a public policy institute and was on the way to home. On the way, I decided to go to tea shop around the corner, run by people from Baglung (western part of Nepal) with a colleague. As we were waiting for our tea, my eyes fell on a newspaper folded in the corner of the table. After skimming through the front page filled with the usual political news, I turned on to the regional section where there was news about women who was a victim of domestic abuse from her husband’s family. She had been beaten because her parents had not provided her husband’s family with enough dowries. The news made me recall something a women journalist who I had once talked to in regards to one of my assignments about women issues in Nepal. She had told me, “Everyday you’ll see some news or the other about how a woman was killed because of not providing enough dowries, women accused of witch craft was force-fed human faces and kicked out of the village. It’s not just women in villages but even women in cities who face problems although to a lesser degree but you can’t tell since they hide it for fear of ruining the family prestige.”

My thoughts were interrupted by the shopkeeper’s voice who was engrossed in a talk with an acquaintance that had brought along a young girl with him. She had come to Kathmandu from her village looking for a job and had approached the shopkeeper for it. A man had brought him to their places hoping they could help her. This reminds me of many women and especially girls of my age who unfortunately have not received even a small percentage of education that I am receiving right now. The best way I can contribute to help them is by writing their stories and sharing it with the world through world pulse so that it reaches those who are willing to help them.