Flood-hit Karnali school children turn to labor

KAILALI, July 5: Displaced by the flood in the Karnali River three weeks back, Sangeeta Tharu, a child from a village in Kailali district, is now forced to eke out a living as a laborer.



While the lucky ones prepare for their first terminal examination, Sangeeta, who used to be a sixth grader at Karnali Higher Secondary School (KHSC) at Narayanpur of the district, could be seen toiling day in and day out at Daulat Ghat area along the banks of the same river, which swept away her home--along with her dream to puruse education. [break]



"After the flood, I neither have the textbooks, nor a proper dress to put on. Moreover, in such a wretched condition, there is no prospect of going to school," she says.

And she is not the only children whose life was turned upside down overnight in the wake of Mother nature´s fury last month.

Anuradha Odh, a sixth grader at Tribhuvan Rastriya Secondary School, shares her cruel twist of fate.

During the school time now, her tender hands, which should have been flipping the pages of the textbooks, carry loads of sand --sometimes as heavy as 40 kilograms-- to support her family.



"I really want to go to school. But how I could I when my family is finding hard to maintain our day-to-day life," says Anuradha.

Over 200 children of the displaced families in the district are now facing similar hardship.

The flood had displaced many families residing in several Village Development Committees, including Sahajpur, Narayanpur and Dansinhapur.

After the flooding caused a massive damage to property and farmland in the district, these children´s dream to pursue education hangs in the balance.

"All my classmates are busy preparating for the first terminal examination. But I have to work from dawn to dusk to make ends meet," says Anuradha. She said she had not seen a textbook ever since the flooding.



Most of the schools will hold their first terminal examination from the mid-July.

"I fear I would not be able to go to school now. But I really want to continue my study," says Prasansha Khadka, a ninth grader at KHSC.

Some children faces harsher fate. While many of these children stay along with their families, some are even forced to migrate as far as different parts of India to make ends meet.



"My son, who was studying in grade 11, has gone to India to look for a job after we lost everything to the flood," says Dipa Sunwar, who is working as a labor at Daulatpur Ghat along with other displaced locals.

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