Empower 400 Girls and Boys to be Leaders in Nepal

The LEAD Course has been a platform for Sristika, 2017 LEADer and now fundraising intern at WLEAD, to get to know herself better, broaden her understanding of the world and find her purpose in life. Enjoy reading Sristika’s reflections on her LEAD Course journey and if you have any thoughts and questions for her please share them with us. She’d love to hear from you!

Before joining Women LEAD, I was full of doubts about myself and didn’t know what I was going to do with my life. I went to the LEAD Course open-house event where WLEAD staff and alumni gave me information about the program and answered my questions. They told me something that marked me that day. They said that we all have the potential to become a leader and a changemaker if we are given the opportunity. I wanted to do something useful with my life so I decided to apply and become a LEADer.

In the LEAD Course, I’ve learned about various topics and social issues. I was especially interested in the ones related to gender and sexual orientation as they were new to me.  For instance, I used to think that marriage was only between a man and a woman and that the opposite was not natural. My time at WLEAD changed my perspective and made me realize that it wasn’t the case. And even if we disagree with homosexuality, we should always spread kindness and show compassion to others, regardless of sexual orientation. It was the same with feminism which I was told before WLEAD that it is about fighting men but this is not true. Being a feminist is to believe that men and women are equal and to create more opportunities for women to get to the positions that are normally enjoyed by men.

The LEAD Course has been a space where I got to know myself better, defined my ambitions, and think about the role I want to have in the world. I personally feel the responsibility to help my nation because of all the pressing issues we face: our environment is degrading, our cities are polluted, and our politicians corrupted... One of my biggest concerns is youth migration and brain drain. I’ve read that every day in Nepal, 1,500 young people migrate abroad in search of better opportunities. I want to encourage them to stay in Nepal and be a positive force for change. 

After the LEAD course, I plan to study tourism because I believe this sector plays a key role in Nepal’s development. More specifically, I want to encourage young people to travel across Nepal and discover their own country. Travelling exposes you to new cultures, other ways of life, other perspectives, and realities. This is important in a country as diverse as Nepal where there are as many as 125 different caste/ethnic groups and 92 living languages, and where there’s an increasing gap between the rural and urban areas. Through responsible tourism, I want to inspire youths to stay in Nepal and contribute to its development by showing them the beauty and potential of our nation.