A child's journey from labor to advocator

Lokesh Bahadur Khadka, a permanent resident of Bajhang district, is the family's third son. He was born in a middle-class family of 7 family members. He has two elder brothers, one younger brother and one younger sister. Everything was working fine within the family until an unforeseen event happened in his life. His father was seriously sick and was diagnosed with cancer. “For the treatment purpose, we had to sell our house and land for the treatment of my father in India”, says Lokesh, remembering his past days. Since then, his family's condition has started to degrade due to the economic crisis.

Lokesh was very young when his father passed away. After the death of his father, his studies were affected as he could not continue his schooling for years. Amidst the circumstances, a brother from his village offered him work overlooking the house where he would be provided with facilities for eating, sleeping, and provision of going to school. At that moment, due to financial problems, it was a good deal for him and with the help of the uncles from the village, Lokesh came to Kathmandu with his elder brother to support his family at the age of 6 years.

Lokesh is a student of law and is currently studying in grade 11 at Koteshwor Saraswoti Secondary School. He graduated with his SEE from the same school last year. Getting back to the memories of his initial days at CWISH, he remembers, “I presented a caricature show when I was in grade 9. After that show, a senior brother named Manoj (already engaged with CWISH by then), who is also a domestic child laborer, asked me if I had any knowledge regarding CL. I had no idea what the issues were, so he insisted on being associated with CWISH. So, from the middle of grade 9, I started attending the meetings at CWISH regularly”.

Lokesh has been continuously engaged with CWISH for the past 3 years and now he is a member of the CAB of CWISH. He is also one of the members of the steering committee and contributes from the lens of a child. Lokesh is actively taking part and raising his voice to draw the attention of duty bearers towards the issue of domestic child labor in the events organized at local and national levels. He has also been submitting recommendations focusing on the aspect of domestic child labor to NCRC, concerned Ministries and Parliament Committees at national-level events. He has also been conducting child-led advocacy actions at his school and sharing his knowledge about CL and its impacts at his school.

Currently, he has left the house of the owner in which he lived for 11 years as a child labor and has been residing at Balkot, Bhaktapur with his friend Manoj. He left the house because he could not allocate time for his studies due to household chores. He is currently working as a storekeeper in the Sales Berry Departmental Store, Lokanthali, Bhaktapur. At the age of 17, he is managing his studies and working together. He has also formed a group of 13 working children in his school and has conducted orientation sessions regarding child labor issues. Visualizing his way ahead about the plans, he says, “I wish for the continuous engagement with CWISH as my studies also align with the nature of work. I am always available to share my knowledge and skills for addressing the issue of child labor so that no child has to go through what I have experienced in life.”