Story from Nepal

On my way to get the Pfizer vaccine. people were arranged like a deck of cards on the van. I sat on the leftover made-up seat, by the side of the door that slid to-and-fro, behind the driver with no cushion or back support. While I was trying to keep balance on the stumbling seat, my attention diverted to a voice, "Lockdown has ruined everything". She continued, “I try to do my best for my son’s future. I bought him a laptop, phone and everything else he asked for but I can’t seem to guide him to a better path. He keeps failing classes and is involved in the wrong crowd.” I took a peek at her. She was sitting on the seat with soft cushions but her tired body and shattered face resembled her abstract state, just like the sliding door full of rust and grooves and the glass window with deep cracks. Her husband tried to console her as everyone gazed with infinite compassion. She whispered, “All I want for him is a future better than ours.”

Hearing those words, I questioned my obedience to my parents' sacrifices. I remember vividly sitting on my father's lap. I felt peaceful wrapped around his big warm hands. Little did I know, he wouldn't be able to do it for years. He planned to go abroad with a flame of hope. However, his dreams were full of uncertainty, and this flame could be blown at any time. Low-income farming and embarrassment from his job left him with no means to provide a fulfilling life for his family. My mother sold her jewelry in hopes of a better future. Entirely unknown of what's to come with just a thin rope of hope, he drove himself towards a cyclone of misery. Deceived by his friend, he got trapped in a manpower scam and became a victim of human trafficking in the 21st century. This tragedy shaped me. My mother had no one to express her misery, so I soaked her pouring sorrows and at an early age understood the hardships of life. It has now been 13 years, and he is in Kuwait with the responsibilities blazing more than the heat of the Arabian desert. He works in the overwhelming temperature only with the hope of giving me a bright future. Just like him, every year thousands of Nepali men go to the gulf countries with the same hope only for numerous of them to return in the form of a corpse.

With the family photos under the pillow, my parents selflessly put their own aspirations on hold to nurture my dreams. I want to give them their lives back. Therefore, I continually maintained academic excellence in school. With my college education in Computer Science, I hope to build IT companies and provide job opportunities for young professionals in Nepal so they are not forced to leave their families and work in foreign countries for a better life.

With a sudden bump, I came back to reality. I struggled to keep my balance on this spindly seat. I glanced at the couple. While their child is blessed with affection from both parents and the abundance of resources to support him, I have to wait for years and work twice as hard to make sure my father’s investment in me with his hard-earned money is not gone in vain. My whole life, I have been on this very seat filled with discomfort and barring of privileges, fighting to keep moving ahead, carrying the heavy load of sacrifices while I watch the people around me move ahead on their comfortable seats. I also wish to get to that seat and take my parents with me. The only way there is through continued hard work on my education, and I am excited to take this new step into college.