When we are 7 years old, one of our greatest comforts is in knowing that mum and dad are there for us. We love our parents more than anything and cannot imagine life without them.
They give us love, food, security and make things better for us when we don’t know what to do and at 7 years old we very often don’t know what to do!
For Phul Maya (7 years old) and Lali (9 years old), this comfort was shattered early in their lives as their alcoholic father squandered all their land and wealth before his early death. Life was a struggle after this. Their mother found it difficult to feed and clothe them and often they would go without meals.
In Nepali, ‘Lali’ means Red so she is our very own Nepali Little Red Riding Hood. She is mature beyond her 9 years and profoundly protective towards her younger sister. Where Lali is quiet and thoughtful, Phul Maya (means ‘flower love.’) is bubbly, playful and constantly smiling. They both share a passion for dancing and want to be doctors when they grow up.
One morning, Phul Maya and Lali awoke to discover that their mother was not there. They searched everywhere for her in their village –believing that she had gone to the shops to buy food- but she had not. She had gone. It was later that they learnt that their mother had remarried and had left them because her new husband wanted to start a new family. Their whole world crashed around them as they realized that they were alone.
The two girls were born in a village in distant Sindhuli but had made their way to a carpet factory in Boudha, Kathmandu. For a period they worked all the waking hours in a Hotel but when we met them they were sleeping on the floor in a carpet factory. They had been discovered by a young lady called Urmila Lama who approached us with a request for sponsorship.
Our initial response was not positive because we are struggling financially. However, we agreed to visit the two girls and interview them with the view of potentially sponsoring them in the future. We arrived at the carpet factory and soon realized that the future was a lot closer than we had imagined. Two pairs of innocent eyes stared up at us. Identically dressed, unwashed and nervous –their shy smiles and quiet voices –we knew immediately that we were going to help them.
Financially it would have been sensible and quite logical to refuse but helping children who really need the help and who have no one to turn to –that’s what we are about. We both came to the conclusion that both girls were at high risk and that if we did nothing then their lives would ultimately take a turn for the worse as they are young girls and vulnerable to exploitative adults. Much to their joy and our satisfaction, both girls jumped at the chance to join our hostel where they would find a home and family to love and care for them. They arrived in the hostel with only the clothes they were wearing. They had no other possessions.
We have provided the girls with a home, food, and one set of new clothes but this is currently a temporary arrangement. In February 2011, we found to generous sponsors to help our Little Red Riding Hood or Flower Love.
