LBU has 20 children, 10 girls and 10 boys between the age of 7 and 15 years old.

Their school day typically commences at 6.00 am with tea and a biscuit, before taking a shower followed by play and time to revise their homework. At 9.30 am they have their first proper meal and depart for the nearby school, where lessons start at 10.00 am and finish at 4.00 pm.

The Education Manager supervises their homework before their dinner, which is at around 7.30 pm in accordance with Nepalese habits. They play or finish their homework and are in bed, hopefully content, by 9.00 pm.

On Saturday and during school holidays, the children play music, enjoy drawing and dancing lessons. Picnics and sightseeing activities are also arranged.

While there is no television at LBU, the children are invited regularly to watch TV at a neighbour’s home and on occasion we rent DVDs, that they are able to watch on the computer.

Kalpana

One of our first orphans, Kalpana is 12 years old. She is a wonderful young girl, very kind and affectionate and often behaves like a little mother with the younger children.

She endured a very hard life before arriving to LBU. Her father committed suicide when she was 8 years old and her mother became very depressed, started drinking alcohol and died one year later.

After the death of their parents, Kalpana, her two older sisters (both of whom are now married) and a younger brother, Krishna, (who is now living with her at LBU) stayed for one and a half years with their uncle. A simple farmer with children of his own he accepted an offer from a refuge in Kathmandu to take care of the children.

Unfortunately, this refuge was a shameful place. The children, as witnessed by Florence Krief during her work there as a volunteer, were malnourished, often beaten and were not enrolled in school. Kalpana stayed there nearly 18 months until she was taken back by an aunt, who decided to re-unite her with her brother at LBU.

When she was seven years old, Kalpana suffered third degree burns to nearly half of her body, following an accident with boiling water. In early 2002 she underwent reconstructive surgery to release a burn contracture and in September the same year, Dr Rai performed additional surgery to improve the mobility of her arm and neck. One of the best plastic surgeons in South Asia, Dr Rai generously did not charge for his services.

Originally, Kalpana had little opportunity to go to school. At her arrival, we enrolled her in class I and she is now in Class II, very keen to learn and is improving rapidly. She is approaching adolescence and we will try to ensure that she does not feel different from the other girls of her age.

Kirtiman and Suryaman

Kirtiman

Kirtiman is 7 years old. Always smiling, he likes to make jokes, loves to watch wrestling on TV and pretends to be a strong fighter, despite being very tiny and sensitive.

Suryaman is 11 years old. His life after his parents’ death was very hard, however, it is nice to see how he is becoming a happy and mature young boy since coming to LBU.

Kirtiman and Suryaman’s father died from tuberculosis and they became farm boys, helping their mother as much as possible. In 2000 their mother died and Kirtiman stayed with an aunt, while Suryaman went to live with an uncle.

Suryaman

In August 2002, we reunited Kirtiman and Suryaman. They love each other very much and Kirtiman is lucky to have his older brother taking such good care of him.

Kirtiman and Suryaman never attended school before arriving at LBU. They were enrolled in nursery class. At the end of the school year, Suryaman went directly to upper kindergarten and Kirtiman who is also a very good student is now in lower kindergarten.