Strength ToegtHER 31: My Small Happiness

My Small Happiness

Lokopakar in collaboration with NIRI Nepal conducted a donation drive a few months ago to conduct 10 sessions of Strength TogetHER at 10 public schools in Kathmandu. NIRI (Nexus Institute for Research and Innovation) is an independent and not for profit sharing institution in Nepal with a vision to promote quality research and innovation across the nation and beyond. 

Strength TogetHER is a safe space to share personal stories and experiences which bring change in attitude and lives. Girls get to explore and express themselves which helps to unburden themselves and create new meaning. Lokopakar completed the sessions in 3 schools, Nandi Secondary School, Padmodaya School, and Shaheed Shukra School. The fourth school, where Strength TogetHER is being conducted is Siddi Ganesh School. 

Siddhi Ganesh Secondary School is a public school located at Paknajol, Kathmandu. On 4th Nov, 2022 we conducted the introduction session with 24 girls. It was an interactive and fun session where we played ice breaker games and got an opportunity to get to know each other. 

On 5th Nov, 2022 we conducted a topic based session on the topic “My Small Happiness”. The moderator shared her happy story first. She always wanted to buy a full length mirror as she didn’t have one at home. She was saving money to buy it. One day when she returned home from her classes, she saw the full length mirror at home as her father had bought it. She shared she was extremely happy because of that. 

Our participant then shared that she was severely ill once, and her nini (material aunt) told her that she should eat food well else she would need to go to the hospital and get injections. While her mother said that if she ate food well then she would buy her new clothes. She was happy to hear her mother say so. 

Another participant shared, “My sister was pregnant and I was expecting a baby girl to be born. I was happy just by thinking about the girl. But, at the hospital my sister gave birth to a baby boy. I was not very happy about it. Now, the baby has grown up and I can play with him. It’s fun to be around him and when my sister visits, I don’t want her to leave because of the baby and want the baby to stay with me all the time. It makes me very happy when she comes home with her baby.”

“I got two happy things on the same day. I really like eating lollipops. One day, a brother gave me 23-24 lollipops in the class which made me very happy. And, my parents are abroad and when they call, they always address me and my sister “chora” (son) but once I was very sick and they called me “chori” (daughter). It made me really emotional and happy at the same time”, shared another participant. 

“My mother worked in a shop before. There was a white dog in the shop and she had given birth to 5 puppies. My mother said that she would bring one for me which made me very happy”, shared another participant. 

Another participant shared that last year, after a month of Dashain vacation, she was extremely happy when she got to meet her best friends on the first day after the school reopened. She had not met them for over one month. 

“When I was in class 2, I really wanted to ride a bicycle. I was very happy when my uncle bought me a bicycle,” shared another participant. 

Another participant shared that she was happy when she met her brother who had come back from Australia after 4-5 years. And, another participant shared, “I really wanted to learn to ride a scooter from a young age. But my parents never allowed me. A few months ago, my uncle started to learn to drive a car. And, my parents told me to go along with him to the driving center and learn to ride the scooter. I was very happy then.” 

“I had a group of 3-4 friends. They are now at different schools and different places. Last time, one of my friends called me after many months and I was happy as I got to talk to her,” shared another participant. “One day when I came home from school when I was in class 2, my mother had given birth to my sister and brought her home. I remember the day clearly and I was very happy during that time,” shared another participant.  

Another participant shared that she was extremely happy when her father gave her thousand rupees as pocket money when she didn’t have any money about 4 or 5 months ago. 

With this everyone shared their stories. They said they felt happy, emotional, nervous, a sense of relief and comfortable while sharing their stories. Some added that they got happy by listening to others' stories of small happiness. And, realized that they need to notice and appreciate the small happiness and not only wait for big happiness to come by. We ended our session promising to reflect on the small things that make us happy every day.