My Story

Intro

Kanchan from Nepal aspires to spread one message among the youths: ‘We the youths of today are the fathers of tomorrow and together we can make a difference. Its time we stopped thinking about ourselves and started thinking for tomorrow’s generation.’

About Me

I am Kanchan Jha and my family comes from a small village in Mahottari district of Nepal. I moved to Kathmandu for high school education and I studied in the US, so I never had the opportunity to live and spend most of my time at my birthplace. Since 2006, I have been living in Birganj, where I have founded a non-profit, social organization called Sano Paila (a little step), which is dedicated to the idea that as the power of spirit rises within so does the desire to serve the community.

I am passionate to try out all the things I am interested. I have always believed that life is a journey and that I should make it as meaningful as it can get. And like Odysseus, I would love to take this journey and mark it as a turning point in Sano Paila’s history. The reason I became an entrepreneur is because I wanted to create an opportunity for myself to make a contribution to the community I belong to and society as whole. Besides, I have always been disheartened by the idea of working for someone else and have always objected to a system where reward is often based on seniority rather than talent and accomplishment, or where someone has to remain conventional to a corporate culture. As a founder of my venture, I enjoy the golden opportunity to be involved in the total operation of the organization, from concept to design and creation, from fundraising to expenses operations, from daily governance to management to interaction with the local community. At the end of the day, it offers the prestige of being the person in charge. I also believe that I have dared to dream and have walked out of the closet to take ‘a little step’ on my own.

Mahatma Gandhi once said: “I have not the shadow of doubt that any man or woman can achieve what I have, if he or she would make the same effort and cultivate the same hope and faith. Work without faith is like an attempt to reach the bottom of a bottomless pit”. Truly so, faith in human dignity and respect for all is what ticks me as an inhabitant of this planet and drives my everyday work.

My Venture

After I came back from the US to my hometown, Birganj, I was really disappointed with the sorry state of the community I belong to and Terai as a whole. The district was witnessing a socio-political turmoil and there was a state of chaos all over Southern Nepal. Most of my friends and relatives would just keep whining about the affairs of the government and how bad the country has become. Soon, I was able to convince some people that it’s not always the government that can bring change, it’s the people. Based on this thought, we than felt the need to do something - to take a step, at least ‘a little step’. A simple thought of serving the community through a large heart and a passion-driven character generated the idea and the need to establish a community based NGO that would provide comprehensive welfare services through community resident’s participation and engagement.

Sano Paila (a little step) is a member based, non-profit, non-government organization working in the best interest of the forethought that care and development of the community has to be touched at all points: economic, hygienic (health), social and political. At present we have 3 community level projects; Action for Addiction (focuses on prevention and control of drug abuse and HIV/AIDS in Parsa district), Sano Paila Gharelu Udyog (home-based industry) program (focuses to generate income for the organization and to provide the socially afflicted-lesser fortunate members of the community-with a financial initiative, encouragement and employment opportunity), and Youth Awareness and Communication program (focuses on behavior change communication and peer led education programs for the youth).

Our plan is to develop a trust and extend services gradually to the neighboring districts, and ultimately to whole of Nepal. Today, we operate 3 community level projects, have two office locations, one youth center, 50 members, 450 volunteers and different support groups along with several local donors, mainly small private businesses that are continuously supporting our work.

Sano Paila has just begun. We’ve faltered quite a few times along the way but we know there’s light at the end of this tunnel and that we will reach there. In 10 years I would like to see that we have developed into a self-sustainable organization operating in all the 75 districts of our country serving the less-fortunate and working for the care and development of the Nation. The vision of our NGO is to build and sustain unified, even-handed and self-reliant communities in Nepal. I know it’s too big of an ambition but I will dedicate my life and continue to work for the care and advancement of the poor, helpless and weak. We have to understand that it’s the poor people who will help us realize the real dignity of our country and pave way for a greater Nepal and a unified one, one which was once envisioned when this country was brought together.