Names have been changed in the story to protect the privacy of those involved.
Image: Shruti, with one of her many climbing partners, off to conquer a hill in Kathmandu.
Gripping the hand of her climbing partner, she pulled herself up over ridge after ridge, pausing at the end of each mini-ascent to catch her breath and reset her face in determination. “Let’s go!” she said again, a giant smile spreading across her face.
Shruti likes to climb mountains. It’s a fitting hobby for a girl who has had to learn to repeatedly overcome obstacles throughout her life. After being abandoned by her mother at the young age of two, Shruti wound up in an abusive children’s home in Kathmandu, where the manager exploited and mistreated kids. She lived there, in squalid conditions, for nearly seven long years.
In February 2011, however, officials from the Government of Nepal succeeded in shutting the home down. Shruti (along with the 19 other children living there) was rescued and brought to live at Karnali Home by Next Generation Nepal staff members.
Shruti adapted easily to life at Karnali Home and quickly became known for her “laughing attacks” and generosity toward others, sharing her belongings and friendship freely. She also became known for her fierce self-reliance. Having never known her family, Shruti was accustomed to counting only on herself.
Recently, though, Shruti received a visit from a man who hopes to change that. After several months of searching remote mountain areas with very few clues about Shruti’s family, NGN’s reintegration managers finally succeeded in finding members of her family. It took them three separate trips before they located Shruti’s village in November 2011. Going mainly on word of mouth and facial recognition, the odds stacked against NGN’s reintegration managers would have aptly been described as “one in a billion”.
But their perseverance paid off, and a few weeks ago Shruti’s uncle traveled for three days from her native village to Kathmandu to visit Shruti and deliver the good news that she has a family who is alive and wants to be a part of her life.
Shruti’s uncle brought her chocolate (which, in keeping with her nature, she quickly distributed to the other children at Karnali Home) and told her things about her village. She was delighted to find out that it is a place teeming with sugarcane plants and apple trees. In return, Shruti gave her uncle some of her biggest smiles to date and spent two hours with him, talking, laughing and looking at pictures of her family members.
Image: Shruti with her uncle on her left and NGN Reintegration Manager Sandup Lama on her right.
A miraculous reunion, it was the first time in her life that Shruti can remember meeting a member of her family. None of the NGN staff members present for this joyous meeting will ever forget how pure Shruti’s laughter was that day.
For now, Shruti is looking forward to the next school holiday, when NGN’s reintegration managers will accompany her on a trip to her village where she will meet other family members and spend time getting to know them. Her reconnection to her family against all odds is truly an amazing story that perfectly reflects our philosophy at NGN to never give up.
Stay tuned for more of Shruti’s story to come!
Editor’s Note:
NGN’s reintegration managers are still searching for Shruti’s parents and maintain weekly contact with her family members. According to them, Shruti’s father is working in the Middle East. The location of her mother is still unknown. Reconnecting a child to their family is the first of many steps our reintegration managers take in the process of permanent reunification.
