School Principal Somnath Dhungana said it is no small thing for a 12-year-old to decide to opt out of school so that she can take better care of her family.

MYAGDI, Aug 24: Nine-year-old Puja Khatri sleeps in a narrow room on the upper floor of her house. She has to share the cold floor with her brother Puja, with just one gunndri, a traditional hay mattress, for the two of them. She has never known what it feels like to sleep under a warm blanket.

Beyond the corner is a bed with a thin mattress, a very old blanket and a pillow. This is reserved for Puja's grandfather. The siblings have turned down numerous offers from the grandfather to exchange sleeping places.

There is another old bed in the room and it is on the verge of collapse. A third sibling, Puja, sleeps in that bed. She is the 12-year-old who recently wrote a letter to the principal of her school, Jamunakharka High, asking him to cross out her name from the school roster so that she can focus on her destitute family.

At first glance, the room looks too narrow for even one person to sleep in. But the four in the Khatri family of Beni-6 in Myagdi district have to make do with it.

“I don't know how it feels to sleep under a blanket. But whenever there is a day off from school, I sleep in grandfather's bed till evening,” said Puja, showing the room. “During winter, our cheeks, hands and legs become swollen due to the cold. There are many nights when we have to go to bed on empty stomachs.”

The father of the siblings used to beat them up whenever he got drunk. He even broke down the door in the ground floor in an attempt to kick them all out of the house. But he has disappeared since the past month. Their mother has been out of contact since the past two years.

“You may think only ghosts live in this house. But for us it is our mansion,” Puja said smiling.

All three of them sleep with their socks on in the hope of a little extra warmth. But their socks are torn. At school Puja tries not to let the tear show. “We do not even have proper clothes to wear. It was things like this that prompted me to write to the principal to tell him I was quitting school so that I can help my younger siblings in their schooling instead.”

School Principal Somnath Dhungana said it is no small thing for a 12-year-old to decide to opt out of school so that she can take better care of her family. “She is a courageous child.”

Since the story of Puja's plight appeared in Republica, people from inside and outside the country have started initiatives to help. The Gandaki Province chapter of the Federation of Nepali Journalists is among organizations that have provided some financial aid to the Khatri family.

 
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