Now I am so tall

Now I am so tall

Students from a children's home in Kathmandu share stories of how they got there, and where they want to go.

Rabina Regmi

My name is Rabina Regmi. I was born in 1997. I was born in the central, southern part of Nepal. My village is beautiful, full of forests and birds chirping here and there. Many small rivers are in my village. As a child, I read in class two. All the villagers called me names as a small girl because my height was less at that time but now I am so tall.

One day in Tihar [a Hindu festival] my mother told my daddy, "I will go meet my brother to get tika." But my daddy disagreed. My mommy was angry with my daddy and she took me and my brother and we went to meet her brother. When we were in the bus in one place there was a clash between the Maoists. They threw a bomb at our bus, and at that time we were in the front seat. My daddy didn't know we were in an accident. When he listened to the radio he knew we had an accident. And when he knew, as soon as possible, daddy took us to a hospital near India. We were badly injured. Me and my brother's faces were burned, and my mother's whole body was burned. After some days, mommy's hand and leg swelled up. Me and my brother went to see our mother after an operation. Her face was so sad. She said to me go take rest. I went, I took rest. After I went she said to daddy, "Love your son and daughter. Give them good knowledge and education." After thirteen days my mother died. My father for a long time was like a mad man. We didn't know our mother was dead at that time.

For one year we were hospitalised and the doctor gave us cream to put on our faces. After one year, my daddy searched for a school for my brother and me and my daddy found one. After that, I started my study in this school, Bright Horizon Children's Home. Now my daddy has found a job. In the future, I will see my father and I will take care of my father. I will become a nurse and I will serve poor people.

Urgen Sherpa

In a beautiful village called Sikkum, there was once born a little baby girl. Her name was Urgen Sherpa. After she was born, her father left her. So, she started to live with her mother. Slowly, time passed. When she was two years old her mother came to Kathmandu in search of a job. When her mother was in Kathmandu, Urgen was cared for by a girl who was just five years older than her.

After a year, her mother went back to Sikkum to take Urgen to Kathmandu. When she came to Kathmandu, she was only three years old. And she joined a school called Bright Horizon Children's Home. She grew day by day and she reached eleven years old. To her surprise, her mother told her that her father was back. She was excited and shocked. Then she began to live in a family whose members were her father, her mother, and only her.

When she was fifteen years old, she suffered from tuberculosis. She took medicine for TB for about one year. When she was suffering from that disease, her mother was also suffering from that disease. But when her mother started to take medicine, she suffered from another disease called jaundice, which she had already had in the past. Her mother became badly sick. She was admitted to a hospital. Then, after a month, she left her father and the girl all alone in this world.

Then this girl's struggle of life began. She was also not fully well. She still took medicine. After two months, she had an operation on her lungs. Then she was admitted into a hospital. She missed many of her classes. Her father also married another woman. After many days, she was discharged from the hospital and now, she again returned back to her real home, Bright Horizon. Because of this, all she has is only the present in her life. She has a very dark future. And she was trying to make her future very clear.

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Himal Southasian
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