He lived in Dhaka city but when he was placed in rural villages, he wasn’t sure if could live and pull off the work. “I was not very sure whether I would survive there but I did very well because the work I was engaged in was with rural poor people. That particular area had a high concentration of poverty so the work I did with the poor was immensely enjoyable. When you see that your contributions make a difference to make the lives better of the poor, you feel rewarded which I did and I spent many years in northern Bangladesh,” shares Rozario during the Inspirations series.[break]
He came back to Dhaka but with bigger responsibility on his shoulder. “I went to Africa with my family after that and spent nine years there. Then I came to Nepal as the country representative of LWF Nepal and I am very happy here,” says Rozario, who’s been living in Nepal since 2003.
LWF Nepal has been working in Nepal since 1984 with deprived, marginalized and displaced population, informs Rozario. Currently LWF Nepal is running programs on poverty alleviation, health, hygiene, water supply, agriculture development and refugee supports. Rozario says that the last nine years for him has been very rewarding. He feels very committed to the projects and is contributing as much as he can. “All my colleagues in the organization are Nepalis and I am extremely happy to be partners with them,” shares Rozario.
He shares the fact that LWF was the first international organization to work with the Bhutanese refugees and remembers that there were more than 110,000 of them who were sheltered in seven different camps in Jhapa and Morang. Though LWF used its own resources in the beginning, now it’s the implementing partner of UNHCR. “Our responsibility is to ensure care and maintenance to the refugees,” informs Rozario, who further says that they are working on three main themes now; disaster risk reduction, sustainable livelihood and human rights, peace and reconciliation.
He also informs that the caste based discrimination is reducing. “I have seen that those who are non Dalits have good empathy towards the Dalits and they try and help them out,” says Rozario with a smile. LWF has also been supporting the Dalit girl and boy students but emphasis was given to support the Dalit girls.
Inspired by his parents, particularly his father because he was a very good teacher, Rozario can never forget the people who he was working with to change the structure of the society. “Lots of people were not very happy and they felt threatened,” shares Rozario.
For him, human dignity is very, very important. “Whatever we do as a person, I think the human dignity should be valued the most. Particularly when you work with other people for the benefit of the common people, you cannot undermine the human dignity,” says Rozario, adding, “I know that as a person I have very limited capacity but I also have experience working with others to bring in positive changes in people’s lives.”
Rozario is the first person to be featured on “Inspirations: The essence of life”, a personality-based television series presented by Media Gallery and Global Exposition and Management Services in association with Republica. The program is aired on Nepal Television every Wednesday at 10:10pm
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