Six missed calls from Shyam bhai. We called back frantically, worried about what had happened. He didn’t pick up. After few minutes, we got back a text.
“I am frustrated, I cant do the vocational training anymore, I want to leave”.
Three weeks ago after visiting Budhanilkantha area many times, we finally admitted Shyam to his school. Corona pandemic hasn’t made things easy but we found a way Shyam could study morning classes and do vocational training in the afternoon. But just after three weeks, we felt we might fail.
We asked ourselves what if we fail? The 2 years experiment of providing 10 kids with interest-based vocational training financed by microcredit and hedged against their success can fail.
But it is ultimately not about Shram nor the ideology, or the minds behind it. It is about the state of the developing world today, the lack of opportunities, and the wish to challenge it. It is about developing nations like Nepal & their wish to better their conditions. Like richer nations could we in Nepal create equitable wealth & prosperity for all, not just for a few? Could we do something different?
For this hope, for this dream, Shram was created. Yes, the Shram experiment can fail. But what can’t fail is our hope to progress not only in wealth but also in wisdom. The individuals behind and with Shram can fail but the dream of an equitable society can’t fail.
So how do we do it?
We do it through the vocational training of rural youths. We hope one day no Nepali has to go abroad as foreign labor and be a neo-colonial slave in wealthier nations. We hope dignity of labor will prevail and no one will be ignored. So we started with a mission to empower 10 kids for 2 years and create a sustainable model that works!
For Shyam bhai, we called him again, talked to his school, brought him back home to discuss how to manage after Dashain holidays. The challenge is not over yet. While working with & for humans, we understood that there are emotions, highs & lows, excitement & disappointments which have to be managed. Fortunately, Shyam bhai seems to be happier now. No matter what, we understand that we have to continue to follow up, progress isn’t easy, commitments aren’t easy.
However, we know, we can’t solve it all & we can’t solve it alone. We are still sketching our ideas & we believe together we can achieve more.
What would you do? How would you do it?