Country: Nepal

About:

A young development professional passionate  about youth and community development. Nilima is a travel enthusiast and hiker. She has done masters in ‘Inter-Asia Non-profit Organization Studies from Sungkonghoe University in South Korea and served as an Atlas Corps Fellow in Washington DC.

I was born and raised in a small village in the mountain region of Nepal. Growing up, I saw many challenges, biases, and discrimination against young people and even more so against women. I, myself, went through many struggles for being a girl. I realized society needs a sweeping change from this mindset and I wanted to be someone who brought about that change. When I was doing my bachelor’s, a friend of mine introduced me to the Rotaract club. It became the beginning of my journey towards change. During my tenure as a president, we organized many community development programs, one of which was building girls toilets in schools along with advocating against the menstruation taboo. Many girls suffer and miss schools due to unsafe menstrual practices. Rotaract opened my door to be more involved in the development sector, and I have always worked in the youth development sector ever since. I have worked with a local NGO working for the empowerment of youths in politics, worked with an INGO working to increase access of young people to sexual reproductive health information and services, and worked with YouthLead, a global platform for youth.  Currently working with the United Nations and working on the private sector and youth engagement, and I aim to work at the global level to be able to inspire and influence as many young people as possible across countries and regions.

Recipe for Change: 

My five tips to become a youth development worker: 

1. Find your passion: There could be many issues that you might be interested in, but find an issue or cause that you really care and are passionate about. Finding your true passion never makes you feel like you are working. It took me a few failures and a lot of learning to find my passion, but since I found one, I have never looked back. 

2. Consistency: Questions, doubts, failures are part of any journey, so learn to embrace failure/s but never stop doing what you believe in.  The consistent efforts and hard work will change the question from ‘why are you doing it?’ to ‘how are you doing it?’ in no time. 

3. Define your goal?: It is very crucial to have a goal or a vision, even if it is not crystal clear at times. Having a goal in your life gives you strength in times of doubt and keeps you moving no matter what. 

4. Be an empty glass: working in the youth development sector means that you always have to keep up with the latest trend, popular culture, and technology. The youth sector is ever-changing; you have to be open to learning and always listen to other young people to keep up with speed and update yourself. Reach out for help: It is ok to ask for help. Nobody is perfect in this world and one person can’t change anything and everything. It needs a collective effort. Ask for help, advice, ask experts to mentor you even when you think that you are on the right track. 

Recipe: Nepalese Momo

Momo is the most popular food in Nepal and you can find various types of momos. It’s not very easy to make it but it’s not difficult and you won’t regret learning and cooking momos. It’s one of the most delicious foods. You can make vegetarian or non-vegetarian momos as per your preference. 

INGREDIENTS:

For the dough: 

2 cups All Purpose Flour (Maida) 

Salt , to taste 

1-1/2 teaspoon Baking powder 

For the filling: 

1 cup Chicken , boiled and minced 

1/2 cup Onions , finely chopped 

1 fresh red or green chilli

1 tablespoon Garlic , finely chopped 

1/2 tablespoon Ginger , finely chopped 

1/2 tablespoon Soy sauce 

Salt , to taste 

1/4 tablespoon Whole Black Peppercorns , crushed

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Boil the chicken, mince it. 

2. Grate garlic and ginger or finely chop them. 

3. To make the dumpling skin, in a mixing bowl, add the refined flour, salt, baking powder and water; and when the flour looks crumbly, knead to a stiff dough, with water and keep aside for about 20 minutes, covered with a wet cloth, so that the dough doesn’t dry out. 

4. For the Chicken Filling, heat a tablespoon of oil in a wok and add the chopped green chilli or red chilli, onions, chopped ginger and garlic. 

5. Saute for about 4-5 minutes and add the boiled chicken mince and boiled peas and mix well till combined 

6. Take it off the heat and mix in the soy sauce, salt and black pepper. Be careful while adding salt since the soy sauce also has salt in it. 

7. Divide the dough into equal small portions. Shape them into balls and roll them out thinly, to a circular shape. 

(If this is a long process, you can find momo wrapper in the stores these days) 

8. Take a dough disk, wet its edges and place a spoonful of filling of chicken and sauteed veggies in the center, bring the edges together to cover the filling, twist carefully to seal the momos while you work on rolling up the edges artfully for the chicken momos.  Repeat the process till all the dough and the filling is used up. 9. Meanwhile, get a momo steamer (The steamer features 2 stackable baskets, and a cooking depth of 3 inches)  ready and fill it with some water and keep it for boiling. Arrange the momos on the steamer and steam for about 15-20 minutes or till the momos are steamed well. Serve.