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A Memory from a Kathmandu Factory

by Sanman Thapa | 8/30/2025 | 11:11 am

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Today, while going through an old album, I came across a photograph I hadn’t seen in years. It was taken the day I left the shoe factory in Kathmandu. My brothers in labor stood beside me, their arms around my shoulders, their faces full of exhaustion and quiet pride.

That picture reminded me that even in the hardest places, there was dignity, solidarity, and friendship. We fought for small things, like a cup of tea, because they meant we were more than machines. Those memories have shaped me in ways I still carry.

As Labor Day arrives, I find myself reflecting not only on that past, but on the unseen workers everywhere whose hands make our lives possible. I wrote about those days in A Fight for a Cup of Chai, and I shared a fuller reflection on my author site. You can read it here: https://sanmanthapa.com/blog