2 Children’s stories

During the course of this study, we came across children who had their own stories of misery and suffering. After being forced by the Maoists to cook for them, pay donations and to join their party, many parents fled their villages and took their children with them. It was also found that many parents sent their children to Kathmandu with people they knew because their education would be at risk if they remained in the village. At first, we wanted to include eight of their stories, but because the reasons for their displacement seemed similar, we decided to include only seven stories in the end. These children have faced various problems. For instance, they have been orphaned as a result of atrocities by the Maoists or security forces; they have been caught in crossfire; they have been displaced because of the conflict; they have been subjected to the ill-practice of untouchability. In order to protect the children’s identities, their real names have been changed in the following stories.

2.1 Orphan Kishor’s life
Kishor was only 7 years of age when his mother died from lack of treatment and medicine for her cancer, depriving the young boy of his mother’s love and cozy lap. Kishor and his elder brother Suresh lived with his father Motiram Nepali, a woodcutter, in their home on government land in Chitwan. The family was very poor.

A few months after his wife’s death, Motiram was cutting wood in the jungle one day when suddenly some soldiers came and arrested him. They accused him of being a Maoist and kept him in prison for two years. Kishor and Suresh appealed to many people for the release of their father but no one heard them. When they went to police stations seeking help to free their father, they were called “a Maoist’s sons” and sent away.

Because the brothers are from a lower caste, their neighbors and the larger society hated them. Without a father and mother, Kishor forgot how to smile. Suresh, who was then 20, struggled to provide the brothers with two meals a day.

After two long years, Motiram was released from prison. Meeting him again was the happiest moment of Kishor’s life; both brothers cried to see their father again. Quickly, Motiram resumed making a living for his family – cutting wood in the jungle to sell in the city. However, one day he was again arrested by the Army, but unfortunately this time they did not imprison Motiram; they shot him on the spot after accusing him of being a Maoist.

Kishor and his brother had to face another tragedy. After the funeral ceremony, the brothers realized that they couldn’t stay in the same place: most people hated them because of their caste and they were scared that the soldiers would also label them Maoists.

The brothers left their hut in Chitwan and came to Sundarijal in Kathmandu. Suresh got work as a laborer and soon after heard about SSG. He went there for help and got a job and a room where the brothers could live. SSG gave Suresh work on their land in Sundarijal, and Kishor was admitted to the Shanti Sewa School in Budhanilkantha.

In Chitwan, Kishor had studied till Class 1 but no further because of his family’s poor economic condition. Now 10 years old, he is studying in Class 2. When he was younger, he had an accident that damaged his left eye. Again for lack of money, it was not treated and today his eye is damaged. He says, “When I was in my village most of the people used to humiliate me and insult and hate me because of our poverty, low caste and my physical appearance. But now in Shanti Sewa no one laughs at me. Instead, everyone loves and cares for each other. I feel very happy to be here.”

Kishor says he feels like he is living a new life in SSS. Sometimes Suresh comes to meet him at the school. According to Kishor’s class teacher, Rabina Shahi, the boy’s behavior towards his friends is very good and he is very polite but sometimes he seems upset. He is good in all subjects except English. Kishor hasn’t forgotten his mother’s death by cancer and wants to be a doctor so he can serve sick and poor patients. May his dreams come true.