HCC Graduate Returns Home to Vote for the First Time

HCC Graduate and current HCC staff member Laxmi returned to her hometown to vote in the first local and municipal elections held in Nepal in 20 years. Laxmi wrote this reflection on her experience returning home to vote.

The trip to Sindhupalchok, the place where I was born, and visiting my maternal uncle was fun. It was a new experience for me and being able to vote for the first time felt great. This local election was held for the first time in 20 years, and I was delighted to be able to choose the representatives from my village who I saw possessing the potential to develop my village. My maternal aunt was also one of the representatives in the Women’s Representatives from UML (Unified Marxist-Leninist) party, the Communist Party of Nepal. The election was held on 14th May 2017.

HCC Nepal Grad Returns Home Red I had to walk an hour to reach the voting place. The line was manageable, and I was able to vote without waiting for a long time. I voted for the UML party as this is the party who has vowed to develop our village in the overall aspects necessary, and many of my family members were members of this party for a very long time. As there were many parties with lots of people voting, it has been difficult for the government to publish the voting results on time. Still, we have many of the wards’ voting results, and from my ward, all the panel of UML won. I am happy that my vote was worth it and the party who I voted for won.

HCC Nepal Grad Returns Home with Family The election went well, and I also had a reunion with my family after 3 years. I met my old grandmothers and spent time with them. The village doesn’t have good facilities like here in Kathmandu but they have a happy life there. The people are helpful and kind to the neighbors supporting each other. The air is much cleaner, and we get to eat organic food. This factor makes the village life happy.

We youth should have an interest in politics directly or indirectly. Even if we can’t be actively involved in it, we should utilize our voting rights. My 1st voting experience was good, and I am happy that I used my voting rights.

Finally the day arrived and we had to arrive at the venue by 3. We rushed to the models and did the final fittings. By that time, Dinesh Uncle, Hira Aunt and Bruce Uncle had arrived. As my sequence was on the 4th we had a huge rush backstage that let me meet them only for a brief minute and we couldn’t even click a picture together. Show started at 7. After the third sequence we had the models change into our designs. Finally, our design was on the runway, and we walked at the end of the sequence with our showstopper, Simpal Kharel. While walking on the runway, there were a huge number of audiences, included; designers, press media, journalists, photographers, ambassadors, etc. After our sequence, we went backstage and we really had a roller coaster of emotions. All those sleepless nights, stresses, no meal days and all the difficulties we went through were finally over. It was worth everything. This concludes my three years of learning and we had the chance to showcase it to the crowd and people. After our sequence we finally had the time to breather. All along these past three months it felt as if somebody had put on something in our neck as we were suffocating but now it felt as if it had been let go. We could breathe in peace.

After the runway we had a huge feast and that tasted like the best meal that I had for the entire life.