A father abandons his daughter on the roadside and disappears.
“I will bring you some food, you wait here,” a father said before leaving her daughter stranded in the street in Dhulikhel and never returned.
That little girl, Swastika KC, who was abandoned 14 years ago in Dhulikhel Municipality-7, is now 18 years old.
To help her apply for citizenship, Sharmila Shrestha, the operator of Siddhartha Children’s Home, made many attempts to find KC’s family. But she couldn’t succeed. As she could not do anything, Shrestha handed over the responsibility to social activist Arjun Bhusal.
Bhusal went to Dhulikhel and posted a video on social media, which brought an unexpected result. After watching the video, Swastika’s mother, Manju KC, came into contact, resulting in their reunion.
“I felt very happy upon seeing my mother for the first time after 14 years,” says KC to Onlinekhabar. It was completely unexpected. I had never thought I would meet my mom.”
KC was left in tears out of joy when she met her mother.
After 14 years, as she hugged her mother, KC’s eyes could neither hold back the tears nor the love.
“I was very young, so I can not remember much about the past. But as I grew up, one thought always lingered in my mind, Where is my family? What are they doing?” she says.
After the video was posted on social media, Swastika’s mother Manju had requested Arjun Bhusal to help her meet her daughter. To make that happen, Arjun took Shrestha and Swastika to Chitwan.
“Her mother had built a new life with another family. But after watching the video of her daughter, she asked to meet her. So, I brought Swastika to Chitwan to meet her,” said Arjun. “Now, we are in the process of searching for her father.”
After being abandoned by her father in Dhulikhel-7, KC was found by Radha Makaju, who kept her for a year and enrolled her at Dhulikhel English Boarding School.
However, Makaju later moved to the USA. KC was then taken in by Siddhartha Children’s Home, run by Sharmila Shrestha. She studied up to Grade 10 at Sanjivani Model Secondary School in Dhulikhel and completed Grades 11 and 12 at Adarsha Vidya Mandir in Banepa.
Reason behind abandon
KC’s parents had an unhealthy relationship. Unable to endure continued abuse, her mother left the home and later remarried.
KC’s mother had no maternal family to support her. After she left, her father remarried. After his second marriage, his attitude toward KC changed. Deprived of her mother’s love, KC was abandoned in Dhulikhel during her childhood. Since then, her father has remained contactless.
Though reunited with her mother, KC still wants to understand the truth about her father. Activist Bhusal is now searching for him.
During a phone call with Bhusal, who is in Chitwan, some people mentioned that KC’s father used to work in Amlekhgunj, assigning tokens for trucks carrying petroleum products. With hopes of finding him there, Arjun is planning to visit the area.
