Strength TogetHER 10- Session 3

 

5th Jan 2021

With the motto of ‘girl supporting girls’, LOKOPAKAR, a youth development organization is currently running “Strength TogetHER”, a safe virtual space where girls from different backgrounds come together and share their stories. We believe in rising ourselves by lifting up others. 

The third session of cohort ten took place on a chilly evening on 5th of January 2021 which extended up to two hours of interaction. Our topic of discussion was “A Time I Felt Low”. We had a very productive session with strong input from speakers and feedbacks form the moderator.

We had Miss Kavya Biswokarma as our moderator, a fresh graduate of Bachelors of Social Sciences. Experienced with mentoring, she have now been emceeing for over 14 years. Previously associated with Maiti Nepal as translator, she has also worked as a junior journalist at The Republica. She is a self-trained dancer who have won many competitions and choreographed for a programme recently for a school named Bloom Nepal.

Our speakers shared their stories on how news covering the increasing rape cases, Covid-19 cases and the struggles of LGBTQ community and minority communities makes a bright day so gloomy. One of our speakers talked about her lowest moment when she had to go through ligament tearing and was seeking for help, the moment she realized how blessed we are that our parents be there for our comfort. To add up with that our moderator also shared a similar experiences. Another speaker shared her online classes struggle and having to wake up early morning attending classes till midday. She also shared an incident in her community where young girls are married away so quickly and expected to be a mother giving no importance to their career and dreams. One of our speakers shared how she got affected with Covid-19 and that she had to go through a very hard days. 

The take away notes would include:

Accept the situation as it comes

We miss what we can’t have, so respect and value your comfort

Step out of comfort zone even if it’s hard, you’ll learn throughout

Raise your voice where needed. Your voice matters

We all have our lows, it’ll help us understand ourselves

Don’t let the lows define you

You’re stronger than you think you are when at your worsts


To conclude, we glow through what we go through.

This blog is written by Samikshya Aryal, Cohort Co-ordinator of Strength togetHER, an undergraduate of Bachelors in Development Studies. She prefers pronouns; she/her and identifies herself as a feminist. She is interested in literature and an aspiring poet. Besides an avid reader and enthusiastic learner, she wants to travel as much.


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