The future of seven children hangs in the balance after the sudden demise of their father, the sole breadwinner of a poor family at Chhitapokhari VDC-2 of Khotang. 

Their world turned upside down when Tirtha Khadka, the father, who was working as a security guard in Qatar, had died under a suspicious circumstance on August 18 last year. The body was flown home on November 23. 

Ever since the tragedy, Sumitra, the mother, is struggling to provide for the five daughters and two sons, who are all under the age of 17. 

Shortly after Khadka´s death, Khotang Social Service Center had offered Rs 1,64, 650 to the family. A few more local philanthropists had chipped in, too. A few katthas of land the family possesses provides them for not more than three to four months. "Had they not received some charity, they would have become a total destitute by now," says Tuki Maya Bhujel, a neighbor. "It still bleeds my heart to see Sumitra running from pillar to post in search of any menial work." 

Though the children have been enrolled at public schools -- Janasewa Secondary School and Janachetana Primary Schools -- in the same VDC, their teachers say that they are as good as dropouts because they have to support their mother to eke out a living. "They appear only during the exams. As to my knowledge, last year they attainted just around 20 classes," says Raj Kumar Khadka, a teacher. "To be brutally honest, I hope the minor ones need to be handed over to orphanage or someone should come forward to adopt them," adds Khadka. 

Published on:  18 September 2013 | Republica