Team Bertho

Every part of your life is a chapter of lessons for you, it teaches you how world works. I remember how life gives us different challenges. Sometimes you meet creeps in life which some people often label as there worst experience in life, but in my opinion, that's a life lesson because of the fact that it sharpens your intuition and teaches you exactly where to draw your lines to protect your peace, and just like that, life gives you failure, but every failure comes with a lesson which if used wisely, allows you to shape your life in a betterly manner.

Because success might give us a destination, but failure actually gives us the map and builds a resilience you didn't even know you had.

(Shazeen Rahman, 17, Bangladesh)

I come from a farming family. My grandparents and parents were farmers. Years ago, my father left everything and came alone to Mumbai. He started painting walls so his children could have a better life. Soon, he called us to join him.

Some months we had food. Some months we didn't. Rent, electricity, basic needs — nothing was ever guaranteed. But none of us complained. Poverty gives you a kind of maturity that no classroom can teach. I never once saw my father give up. He woke up every morning, picked up his brush, and went to work without a single complaint.

I kept studying too, with no mentor, no guidance — just small jobs like newspaper delivery, Milk delivery, and hotel night shifts to keep going.

Then life broke me. My elder sister suffered for fifteen long years and passed away when I was just 19. I cried until I had nothing left inside me. I stopped studying. I stopped dreaming. For years, I felt completely lost — like I was moving, but going nowhere.

One day, someone's careless words about my father hurt me deeply. That night, I thought of his hands — tired, paint-stained hands that never once complained — and decided to try again. I became the first person in my whole family to hold a degree.

That moment gave me back my belief. Slowly, good things followed — a scholarship, a job offer, and an unexpected leadership program by Harvard founders.

Soon, I will become the first in my family to step into a courtroom as counsel. You don't choose where your story begins. But you can choose where it goes.

The world will hurt you. People will say things that keep you awake at night. You will cry more than you think is possible. But please — show up tomorrow anyway. Do the work today. That is enough.

(Siraj Husen Pathan, 27, India)