Dear Champions,
One day, at 1 A.M., I received a message, “Gyawali, do you remember Infineon from our Chips Act presentation group work?”. I laughed, I asked, “what are you thinking at 1 A.M? about Chips Act? Aren’t we already done?”.
This text was from Samod, Samod Tharushaka Themiya Kankanam Gamage – as My nephew love it to pronounce in full-name.
“No, man. nothing. you remember it?”
“Yes, I do. One of the companies we did case-studies on”.
“Yes, and you know what?”
“What?”
“I am joining them, next monday, as a Senior Cybersecurity Analyst.”
From knowing a company during our EU Digital Sovereignty coursework group assignment and thinking WOW, to making his journey upto itself, wasn’t as smooth as it may seem. Having co-lived for more than 7-months, we shared joy, pains, sorrows, and more to all – emotions and stories. Let me introduce to you, my friend – Samod, Samod Tharushaka Themiya Kankanam Gamage.
Just 2-years ago, we were complete strangers, we didn’t know each-other that we do exist. We both got selected for CYBERUS – I was fully-funded scholar, and he was fee-waiver one. (Learn about how to apply for Erasmus Mundus here) I didn’t know much about him, neither I hope he knew me. On July 2nd, We had one meeting with all selected students for introduction which then resulted on a WhatsApp group for communication. One day, I texted him, asking about some visa related issues.
Later, one day, he texted me, saying, “Bro, let’s look for appartment together”. I nodded a yes.
I was pre-informed by Biplab dai (CYBERUS Alumni) to look for appartment/accommodation beforehand while I was in Nepal. Thus, I had started searching for it like a thirsty crow. Restricted by not having french number to create account in Leboncoin, I was quite worried to get an accommodation beforehand. No way that french citizen will trust us (me). He knows how, so I slipped to a french friend, Zineb. She helped me contacting potential landlords by acting as a proxy. I (we – me and Samod) used to look for advertisements on Leboncoin and then share the potential one to Zineb. She then contacted landlord, on behalf of us. Some scolded her, claiming she is some kind of scammer or fake to tell them that she was talking on behalf of 2-international students who will be soon studying in Univeriste Bretagne Sud. Some gave good signals.
One of those some, was Franck (our generous host). He was quite optimistic, but there was a problem or limitation. The accommodation he advertised was originally targetted for a single student. We liked the place, the room, and everything mentioned there. I then asked to Samod, on his thoughts. He said, “can’t we two stay there?” I proxied this question to Zineb, who then passed it to Franck. Franck was generous enough to accept our proposal, and said in return, “we need to manage ourselves on whatever the presented shared resources.” I consulted Samod, and he said, “it’s fine nah bro.”
Before that very moment, I had lived around 10-years all lone in Kathmandu. Yes, I had lived either with my (elder) brother or with Gokul bhai for some years, but always either had commanding hierarchy or I was the commander, but mostly I spent time with myself, alone, in my own universe. I never shared such co-living with same-level of commanding friend. Thus, I knew, by my own experience, that living with another human is complicated, provided even we will have a completely different cultural perspective. Yet, I said to myself, that “he will remain as my younger brother in my heart always, so way, even if a day comes where we will have some disagreement, I will be the one forgiving him and myself. He is my brother – so with my immense love, he has all the rights to annoy me, to disobey me, and to not respect my boundaries. I will have no complain over him, whatsover he does. I will enjoy his every doings – good or bad, agree or disagree, and will always treat as if he was my younger brother from years.”
With all these self-agreement, I said to him, “Yes, it’s fine.” We conveyed our message to Franck through Zineb. This way, we had our accommodation contract beforehand.
I hadn’t known anything else than his full-name, Samod Tharushaka Themiya Kankanam Gamage. Second thing I knew about him was, he is from Sri Lanka. Third, and most important thing I then made myself knew was, “He is my brother.” and this least but most important thing was the one which I must not forgot even if I do forget his name, or where he is from.
I went to Lorient (Lanester), France (on 28th August) from Kathmandu, Nepal on August 27, 2024. It was immense blessing that I couldn’t put it into words, that we already had a house, a family, waiting for us to be there. Franck and Nathalie (our hosts) were at the train station, to pick me up, with their great laughter. You can watch my whole journey here:
On September 1st, 2024, Samod came. We went to pick him up. It was the first encounter with him in real. After reaching home, I offer him to go roam around. We went to a nearby park, because, I do love going in park. He shared his journey.
Watch Our conversation on Abroad Life:
Previously, I didn’t know that he was a fee-waiver. From the day 2 of his arrival in France (say Lanester), he pushed himself to look for a job (part-time). I attended classes everyday, and he attended every shops/grocery store/restaurant/ and cafe in Lorient and Lanester, in search for a job, in hoping without knowing much french than bonjour and ca va?
Seeing him, struggling, and not being able to help him myself, sometimes, I too, used to ask people if they could offer a job to my friend. One day, I was in parc de plessis, reading Rumi, I met one (I would say friend) brother from Pakistan, who owns an Indian restaurant at Lanester. He was speaking hindi, with his wife and a cute daughter. At that time, I was having a deep desire to speak in Nepali with someone face-to-face – to fulfil this desire, I used to talk with my two bangladeshi friends in broken bangla and hindi. Gently, I turned towards them, I asked him if he was from India. He said, “No, but I do speak hindi.” We talked in hindi for a while, and after few minutes of introduction, I immediately asked, if he could be so generous to offer my friend a part-time job. He requested us to visit him tomorrow. I was quite excited, if I could help Samod to get a job. You could only imagine, how hard he was going through, and I could only see but not feel.
Next day at around 14:00, we went to his restaurant. We met him, and his team running the restaurant. We had lunch. They asked if Samod speaks Hindi, or French. Samod nodded neither of both. My friend then noted us that it would be difficult to take him, as he would require either of language for minimum of the communication. Without which, Samod won’t be able to do his job. So, he couldn’t take Samod for job without knowing any of the language.
My little hope for Samod also turned to hopelessness. Yet, he struggled every day. Refining his CV, to looking for all the possible ways to get a job. He already had 3+ years of experience in SOC analyst, yet, it was very difficult for him to get an interview on his own field. He used to remarked me sometime, “Bro, our Asian experience won’t count here myan. No matter how many years of good experience you carry, they give no F*** myan. It’s so frustrating.”
I used to give words, or strength through words, I don’t know. Some nights, we used to share our thoughts, our understandings on life, struggle, love towards father, abroad, our own country, development, politics, corruption, people, culture, emotions, and songs. We shared movies, and danced in each-other’s songs. After watching one of Sri Lankan Movie, I started calling him, “Machan” – which is more like “Bhai or dost” in Nepali.
Finally, He was able to get sponsor from a portugese company. He finalized all his documents, and was preparing to leave for Portugal. I got my internship at FAU Erlangen, Germany. So, we decided to move out on the same day, April 8, 2025. We knew that, we couldn’t move out of our home in Lanester. We never felt we are abroad from our family, because, here too, we were in the family, like a family. We shared joy, happiness, sadness, cherish moments, emotions, danced together, and celebrated each-others festivals, all together.
Yes, it was emotional moving out. But, almost 4-5-months fast forwarding from our move, I got that text from Samod (No, I mean, yes we were constantly in touch. We used to have call every 2-weeks or 3-weeks, and sometimes with our French family too).
He joined Infineon Technologies in August 2025, and he quit CYBERUS. I felt bad sometimes that he couldn’t complete his Erasmus Mundus journey, yet, having seen his struggle from day 2 of arrival, sometimes, I do feel he did the best choice for himself. Afterall, we are aiming to become better person, and contribute to make our digital world a bit more secure. Samod is already doing this job, though he couldn’t make to the end of degree.
We, Kailaba team, wish him all the success and courage to stand against his struggles.
Connect with Samod here.
