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It looked like another pleasant day to be out in the pine woods as it was Saturday and there was no school. 14-year-old Sushmita (a class 7 student) and 13-year-old Usha (a class 6 student) had only one task for the day – to cut some grass for their buffalos and goats. But, suddenly, there was a big bang and the world – the hills and the trees – seemed to revolve around them and the earth also seemed to leap up into the sky.
After the shock that lasted for an almost forever 10 minutes, the two girls began to race into the fields where vegetables had been planted – they could see that the small buildings in their village in Bungkot, (in Gorkha district) were tumbling down and so that was not an option. It was hours after this that they finally made a run for their homes, which – they found -- were gone and so were their livestock.
Their parents were overjoyed to be reunited with them, their most precious – and only remaining – ‘possessions’.
“I was worried about my family,” Sushmita reminisces. “I prayed that they would be safe.”
“I could not think of anything, except to hide from what was happening,” remembers Usha, who just closed her eyes, hugged her friend and was too afraid to even cry.
Their school building has totally collapsed too, as have almost 90% of the 500 odd schools in the district. “All the children hope that the school will resume soon, even if we have to study in an open area,” says Sushmita. Asked what are their favourite subjects, they replied that they just loved school and everything that they learnt there. Studying in an open area, however, would be a risky proposition, as children become more vulnerable to abuse and security threats and can even go missing. This is where Save the Children’s Child-Friendly Spaces, where trained caregivers help children to learn and play in a secure environment, can be an important child protection initiative.
The two children had not had anything to eat, except for a few biscuits given to them by some neighbours and some cucumbers and tomatoes that they were able to pluck from the fields. They are sleeping outdoors and therefore the risk of pneumonia stares them into their face. Their source of drinking water is through streams, which flow in the valley below their village – diarrhea could crop up for such children too.
Both the girls come from poor families, not owners of any agricultural land – their fathers are daily wage workers and do mechanical repairs etc. earning at best Rupees 200 for a day’s work. Some elderly people who were with these children claimed that till now no government official had even visited their village and aid was coming only from some of their neighbours who had returned from Kathmandu (about 160 km away) or Gorkha village (about 30 kms away). A few people belonging to their village had also trekked across from Kathmandu, cross-country across the hills and forests, to bring in some food.
Sushmita and Usha – and several thousands of children like them, across Nepal – whether in Kathmandu or in remote secluded villages will need all the international support that they can get over the next few months to get their lives to somewhat normal again. The psychological scars thrust upon their young minds will have settled in too deep, to be completely resolved perhaps in their entire lifetime.
