Feature: Nepali orphans need help to rebuild their quake-damaged orphanage

Jay Praksah Thapa, an eight year old Nepali boy, is old enough to realize that he is an orphan and that after the massive earthquake that hit Nepal on April 25, he, along with seven other orphans, are now being housed inside a tent donated by the Chinese government.

"I have no parents and we are living with my mum," Praksah said pointing to a woman sitting near him.

The woman, Laxmi Kumari Subedi, said that she is not the boy's birth mother but that she has been taking care of him and about a dozen other orphans.

Subedi said she and her wards were staying in a house provided by Ram Prasad Upreti, a local doctor, which served as orphanage but during the earthquake it collapsed.

"We are still waiting for donations from the government and other organizations so that life can return to normal and we can rebuild our orphanage and take care of the children," Subedi said.

Since last year, Subedi has been assisted by two other social workers in taking care of the orphaned children.

Subedi was thankful to a member of the Chinese rescue team who handed her Rs 10,000 (about 100 U.S.dollars)in cash and some food items for the children with the promise that more help would be coming from the other members of the Chinese team.

China was among the first countries that immediately responded to the catastrophe by sending a medical and rescue team.

As of Tuesday, the death toll from the 7.8 magnitude quake that hit Nepal has risen to 7,557 with thousands still missing. A side swathe of the landlocked country has been devastated by the quake, said to be the strongest to hit Nepal in 80 years.

When Xinhua visited the tent where the orphans were temporarily housed, a smiling five-year-old girl came up and introduced herself as Kopila Tamang. "I'm in Grade 1 and I know how to read," the little girl said proudly.

She added that soon she and her classmates would go back to school since their school building has not been damaged.

Subedi said that the young girl was from Sindhupalchowk District near the capital Kathmandu which was heavily damaged by the quake.

She said after the death of both her parents two years ago, she was entrusted to her relatives but the child was not treated well. That was the reason why she was taken to the orphanage.

The little girl said she does not want to go back to her relatives but wanted to stay at the orphanage.

But Subedi said that even if the orphans stay at the orphanage, she regularly contacts their relatives and ask them to visit the children so that they can reconnect with their families.

She said that all the children are studying in a school nearby which has not been destroyed. What was totally destroyed was the orphanage.

Subedi appealed to the government and other civic organizations to help them rebuild the orphanage so that the children can be taken care of.

"They have nowhere to go. They need the support of the government and well-meaning people," Subedi said.

She said that the children have already suffered from the loss of their parents and now the orphanage that has given them shelter is also gone.

The innocent children should not be left suffering twice in their lifetime, Subedi said. Endi