Chandra Tamang, 15, lost his mother when he was born and was abandoned by his father, being accused of “a cursed child who swallowed his mother.” [break]
Chandra worked in a carpet factory in Kathmandu till the age of eight, until he was no longer required as his fingers were no longer nimble enough to weave carpets.
He then started to clean dishes at a coffee shop till the age of 13. But “I love to sing and want to teach music to people similar as me,” dreams Chandra.
Upendra Sahani, 13, along with his four brothers, had been left in Kathmandu by his own father.
“I love listening to music and taking pictures from my brother’s mobile phone,” says Upendra. They live in a small shack located in the slums of Jadibuti at Koteshwor.
All the brothers have skin disease known as scabies. They were involved in gambling and theft in the Jadibuti slum area. He adds, “I have many friends in my village and I miss them. I want to go back and rejoin them.”
“I love to eat Cadbury and dance,” says Maria, 9, who lost her mother who had been suffering from an incurable skin disease, and she has the same. She was abandoned by her father for being a girl child. She is now being raised by her aunt.
Krishna Mani Baral, 21, came to Kathmandu while he was in the 7th grade. He is currently pursuing BBA in the second year and working at a school to support himself and two younger brothers back in his village.
“I want to make money just enough to meet my basic needs and not own a car. I want to support underprivileged children,” he says.
In is here where comes Koseli, a non-government and not-for-profit school under the NGO Shikshantar, located in Sina Mangal to the east of Kathmandu City. Koseli has been providing food, education and partial shelter to Chandra, Upendra, Maria, and Krishna along with 100 other children facing similar plights.
“Our goal is to integrate these children in the mainstream of society through education. We want to make them independent to the extent that they can have a decent family life outside the slums,” affirmed Renu Shah Bagaria, founder and Principal of Koseli. “
There are many children seeking admission but we don’t have enough resources to absorb them due to financial crunch. Our school runs on voluntary contributions by samaritans.
The conditions of the slums that these kids lived in were pathetic to the extent that most of them suffer from mild to severe skin diseases and ulcers. However, these children were adapted to such conditions.
Now, Koseli has been a better shelter for them since they are given bath, clothes, foods, education and a playground.
Chandra has been admitted to a music institute and the diseases of Upendra and Maria are now under control since they have been provided hygienic conditions and medications. Krishna teaches at Koseli itself to meet his financial necessities. Most of the teachers at Koseli are similar to Krishna in terms of economical background and education. They pay their college fees with the salary they receive at Koseli.
To show how far the rehabilitated children have come so far, and to install drinking a water system at Koseli, the children enacted a wonderful satirical-tragic drama titled “Jamunko Rukh” at Gurukul on September 24, in which the protagonist dies to the indifference of the society and the state’s political and bureaucratic mess.
Noteworthy establishments such as Koseli can be found in and around the Kathmandu Valley while the Valley itself acts as a barrier to the nation’s progress.
The presence of such institutes, therefore, also indicates a rise in the number of destitute children created by the Valley’s cities.
The root cause for this is illiteracy, unemployment and poverty which the state should focus on but it is Koseli and other likeminded NGOs are meeting the state’s duties and obligations in this particular sector.
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