Sabita Timalsina, a grade 8 student from Shree Partaby Secondary School, resides in Bethanchok 2, Kavre. Her parents own a shop and are actively involved in commercial agriculture. Timalsina dreams of being an Army officer in the future because she loves giving back to the country and community.
She says, “I think borning to die is not a big deal, we need to be able to bring positive changes and contribute to the country”.
Sabita Timalsina is also a member of the Child Club of her school. She says she has been fascinated towards joining clubs since she was studying in grade 5. Her curiosity made her parents and teachers inspire her to join the club. In the initial days, she used to get tempted with the activities such as drawing competition, plantation, oratory contest and other training sessions being held by the club. Later, she started to understand what a child club at a community level can do. She shares about her learnings from the club like, “Training on child violence, child rights, roles of children to bring about a change in the society and other community level programs help build my leadership skills, make me feel confident and help in my personal growth.”
Sabita shares one of her temptations to join the child club as: “I had seen some non-native foreigners facilitating training and interacting with the students in English. I thought joining the club will make me fluent in English. It sounds funny but it has been one of the greatest reasons to join the club”.
Timalsina is only a general member of the club for now, but she aims to become a president someday. When we asked about why she wants to become the president of the club, she enthusiastically replied, “If I become president, I can tell the people of my community not to smoke and litter in the environment. My statement will be valued even more if I become the president.”
Little Sabita asks the customers who come in her shop to use the dustbin and inspire them not to smoke. Her actions are bringing changes in society. She says she is thankful to ARD for letting her the opportunity to join the club. She shares that she has improved her public speaking skills, feels independent, and is able to share the knowledge with her family, juniors, elders and in her community. She also shares that her writing skills have been improved drastically after getting engaged in the club. Sabita believes that being a member of the club has helped her make decisions in her life as well. Similarly, she shares about her being aware about contemporary child issues such as child labour exploitation, child marriage, child related violence and the physical as well has psychosocial consequences it has over the children.
Sabita has been engaged in a handful of activities in the club. Sharing the opportunities she received, she shared about being able to represent the club at local levels. She also happily shares that joining the club has given her the opportunity to participate in different extracurricular contests and win attractive rewards. Comparing herself before and after joining the club she shares her transformation as the journey of being shy to being able to take leadership. Timalsina’s active involvement in the club makes her families and friends proud.
Young teenagers like Sabita have aspirations commit positive changes to their country and the world. If we provide them a platform to spread their wings, they can certainly make their dreams come true. Platforms such as clubs and social networks help them grow for a lifetime along with enhancement in their livelihood and education.
