As a child, I was deeply inspired by my mother’s selfless service as female health volunteer in the community. Her dedication ignited a dream within me towards a career in the health field, driven by a deep desire to make meaningful improvements in the well-being of communities. After joining public health, I have gained invaluable knowledge and insights. Coming from an urban area and educated family, I was initially naive to the fact that many individuals lack basic health information and suffer from preventable illnesses. Throughout my academic years and my role as a research assistant, I had the opportunity to explore various communities in Nepal, which deepened my understanding of how socio-economic conditions impact health outcomes. Working in different communities, I witnessed various health issues arising from stigmatization, illiteracy, and the absence of adequate health services and manpower. While there are huge improvements, it is evident that there still remains a significant gap that must be bridged to ensure equitable and inclusive healthcare for all. I found communities to be receptive and actively engaged in adopting healthy behaviors; all that is needed are the right strategies and interventions to advocate for change. Thus, I want to be an agent to reduce the disparities in health and healthcare within different communities. I am here in United Stares continuing my education in masters in public health and I am in second semester loving everything about university, my neighborhood. Everyday I am learning new things and having diversity in classroom have helped me to develop different perspectives to understand different health behavior and health practices and ultimately design effective interventions. However, I am struggling financially as the living cost of here is substantially higher than I anticipated and along with this my semester per credit fee is also increasing ever semester. When I shared my situation with my friend, she recommended me this platform. I am hopeful that I will get assistantships in my education journey. I also find it inspiring to see this platform and so many donations for students who want to learn and make a world better place. I also hope one day I can say I am making positive change in this world and have the ability to give back to community. Thank you for your generosity, kindness and aspiration. I am forever grateful to see people like you and aspire to become someone like you. God bless you.

Coming from a background where mental health is highly stigmatized, I often thought I am just shy and accepted the fact that this is how I am supposed to feel. For me having constant anxiety in day to day is normal as it just I have low self-esteem. Though I was constantly struggling I could not express my emotions as I said before having mental health issue is always looked as being insane in my surroundings. I started to realize later when I join bachelor in public health and studied mental health as one of the core subject. I now understand my condition and I am no longer ashamed of my social anxiety but I am still fearful to share my emotions to others even with health care professionals. I am continuing my education in public health here in United States and as an international student it’s even harder for me to express myself. I am realizing that because of my social anxiety I am not able to communicate properly with my professors and express the enthusiasm I have for public health. It’s not that I am not trying I am constantly outing myself out there through involving in class presentations and all but still it feels like not enough. Sometimes I gets discouraged and there is also constant feeling that I am not smart enough or I am an imposter. However, I am grateful to my peers and professors who constantly encouraged and are always ready to hear my insights and stories. This semester I was able to improve my presentation skills and was able to maintain overall 4 grade. This has definitely improved my confidence and hope that I can tackle this and I am learning to not to fear my social anxiety but moving forward accepting it and accepting myself. I also often remind myself why I choose public health and different areas of public health including mental health that I want to bring positive change. My life goals had always encouraged me and I am here because of this. I also want to add that I always chooses or wished not to be a materialistic person and placed higher priority to earring value than money. However, I am struggling financially because I am not allowed to work here in United States as a international student and I didn’t anticipated the living cost to be this high. Along with this, my university per credit fee is substantially increasing per semester. I have shared my condition with my friend and she recommended me this platform. I am hopeful it will assist in my education journey and I also find it so inspiring to see so many donations for students. I hope one day I am also be able to help students who want to learn and make a world better place but are struggling because of their financial circumstances. This platform have once again reminding how kind and aspirational is the world that I am living and there are people who want you to succeed. Thank you for your love and inspiration.