The path back to hope

When Alok’s* father passed away in 2017, Alok wanted to find a way to support his family. He took some bank loans to start a small business at a market near his home and steadily began building a livelihood.

But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Alok was one of the thousands of young people affected by its devastating impact on the economy. As the government lockdowns came into effect, Alok was forced to shutter his business and, as a result, his young business incurred heavy losses. When the bank began calling to ask him to pay off his loans, Alok fell into a deep depression and withdrew from everyone. Eventually, things got bad enough that Alok attempted to take his life but was saved by his older brother.

The community facilitator of the Youth Empowered Project in Alok’s area came to find out about his situation and connected him to an informal counselor in July 2022. Through the encouragement of the facilitator to seek psychosocial support and the guidance of the counselor, Alok was gradually able to form a new lease on life. He built back his confidence and took a loan from a relative to restart his business in October 2022. He worked hard at his business and was eventually able to pay back all his previous loans.

Alok is now dreaming of growing his business and starting a family of his own.

*Names have been changed to protect the person involved.