My Journey from Political Prisoner in Qatar to Teacher in Nepal

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjFcoVci2A4

On May 1, 2013, I was jailed under false accusation in Qatar. This happened at a time when I was thinking of finally going back home to Nepal and devoting myself full-time to educational charity work. During the 12 days in confinement, I was filled with many doubts, but my dream to help change the education system in Nepal remained undeterred.

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All I needed now was to get my freedom back.

My friends and network I had earned over a lifetime of learning and teaching came to the rescue. They, along with thousands of strangers who believed in justice, won me my freedom through an online petition, social media campaigns, and myriad of other pressure tactics.

For me, the time has never been better to start acting on my dream.

Born into a family of low socio-economic status in a small town in Nepal, I attended local government schools. But a teacher recognized my potential and, as a result, I ended up in a high-quality school in the Nepali capital of Kathmandu where my studies were subsidized. That simple step changed my life. From there, through hard work and determination, I went on to educate myself in schools and colleges abroad, all paid for by scholarships, and later became a teacher myself.

Looking back on my childhood and the 12 days I spent in jail in Doha, Qatar, with 10 other Nepalese who didn’t have the same educational opportunities as I did, I realized education—both when pursuing and providing it—had contributed to my freedom.

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I want to give this freedom back to my community. As a start, I want to help one of the many government schools I visited last summer.

The school in Sindhupalchowk (a district three hours from Kathmandu), like most government schools in Nepal, has very poor infrastructure, lacks resources and trained teachers. The dropout rate is alarmingly high and the exam pass rate very low.

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If you believe education can change lives of the children of Sindupalchowk for better, help me do that. Help provide high quality education to communities in the area by going to my fundraising page. Help my quest to give back to the community what I received with the help of communities around the world—freedom. Freedom through education.

This project is part of GOOD's Saturday series Push for Good—our guide to crowdfunding creative progress.\n