Strength TogetHER 30 - My Sadness

My Sadness

Lokopakar in collaboration with NIRI (Nexus Institute for Research and Innovation) has started a project to complete Strength TogetHER sessions at 10 public schools in Nepal. On July 18, 2022 Lokopakar conducted the third session of Strength TogetHER sessions for girls studying in Grade 9 and 10 at Shree Shaheed Shukra Secondary School on the topic “My Sadness.”

Our first participant shared that she gets sad when her mother gets depressed or is in tension. Her father scolds her mother and that is when she gets sad as well. 

Another participant shared that she used to live in her village before. She was around 8 or 9 years old at that time, and they had adopted a dog. The dog got pregnant one day and gave birth to many puppies. She wanted to keep them all but her parents told that it's better to give the female puppies away as they were not needed. She recalls being sad during that time. 

“I had an uncle who used to drink a lot of alcohol and slap and beat his wife and daughter and always threatened them to throw them out of their homes. I felt sad when I saw that,” shared our other participant. 

Another participant shared that her father was a powerful person of the village, and they had adopted a dog since all of the family members are dog lovers.  The dog was very helpful and they had brought him up like a member of the family. They were a family of a total 5 members but with the dog, they used to say, there were 6 members.  And, one day the dog passed away, she doesn’t remember the details but as per her family’s information, the dog passed away when she was playing outside and was attacked by a tiger. That was when the dog fought off the tiger and died. She added  that dogs have humanity too and that we should treat them with kindness. She feels sad when she remembers the dog and what the dog did for her. 

“I felt extremely sad when my grandfather passed away from asthma in the hospital. I remember that he loved me a lot and bought chocolates for me as well”, shared another participant. 

Another participant shared that she was sad when her best friend made another friend. And, another shared that she feels sad when her friends comment negatively when she tries to speak in English. 

“My mother gets angry with me as I can’t speak English well and that makes me sad because I have been trying my best to learn English”, shared our other participant. 

Another participant shared that she feels sad when the brothers and sisters at her Karate class tease her for being bad in Karate. While other participant share that he gets extremely sad when she recalls the time her sister passed away a year ago and she had committed suicide.      

With these stories shared, we all discussed how they felt when they shared their stories, the answer received were they felt that they bonded better and felt relieved as well, and got to know others. We concluded the session saying that sad moments add value to happy moments and we should not keep dwelling on it. After hearing all the stories shared, we also stated that it is extremely important to be kind and compassionate towards other beings, and creatures. And, we need to support each other in good things they do and keep a check on each other’s mental well being.