“Father Gaffney and Father Adam, both S.J.s, inspired us to open this Kendra” says Rajesh and Rekha Manandhar, who have been in this field for the last twenty years.
Rekha Manandhar joined HANDS, a home for the disabled and mentally retarded children, at a tender age of eighteen. “The work, which I learnt from Father Gaffney and Father Adam some twenty years back at HANDS, has helped me a lot to start here,” she says. Since HANDS was run by foreigners, the then Panchayat government did not register the charity organization and as a result, HANDS was taken by some Indian Sisters and Brothers, now known as Nava Jyoti Kendra.
Since the Manandhars were accustomed to working with such children, they did not find it a Herculean task to run Kendra.
“And now we have become a big family,” they quip. The Manandhars have no children of their own and do not regret. “We are the proud parents of 42 children,” they express with pride. “Unlike most husbands, my husband does not have any ill feelings towards me for not conceiving,” she says. The Manandhars are worth praising for their unique endeavor in sharing love with the unloved ones. They sold their house for the sake of the Kendra. They have nothing left with then now except the mentally retarded children and a rented house in which they run their Jivan Utthan Kendra at Sitapaila, Kalanki.
“And now we have become a big family,” they quip. The Manandhars have no children of their own and do not regret. “We are the proud parents of 42 children,” they express with pride. “Unlike most husbands, my husband does not have any ill feelings towards me for not conceiving,” she says. The Manandhars are worth praising for their unique endeavor in sharing love with the unloved ones. They sold their house for the sake of the Kendra. They have nothing left with then now except the mentally retarded children and a rented house in which they run their Jivan Utthan Kendra at Sitapaila, Kalanki.
They are very contented and proud because they lost their house and land not for the sake of gambling and drinking but for the love of these children. For them these children are their wealth and their happiness. “Only this is left out of my wealth,” says the Calcutta born Ms. Manandhar showing her ear top.
When they were young, Mr. Manandhar was a football coach and an employee at Gorkhapatra Sansthan and Ms. Manandhar was a teacher at HANDS. Later Mr. Manandhar joined HANDS and met Ms. Manandhar where they understood each other’s feelings resulting in a happy intercaste, love marriage.
When asked how they manage the Kendra, they replied that the main source of income is the fee from the student. And with the fee, they have to meet all the expenses including the staff salary. The Kendra has eleven staff including the Manandhars themselves. “We have no other source of income and we are doing our best,” they state. Besides, there are also some free students.
According to them, in recent times, Merit Mudler of Holland donated some toys and equipment, and Madan Krishna Shrestha, Hari Bansha Acharya and Kailash Dewan jointly donated exercising machine and a water tank. “We do not accept cash donations but equipment and other things are most appreciated,” they say, “because we do not want people to pinpoint us.”
The Manandhars are sad with the way the Social Welfare Council (Samaj Kalyan Parishad) is working.
Citing an example of the Council’s negligence, Mr. Manandhar noted that the Council did not heed to his application in which he requested the Council to make a thorough inspection and cross-check before giving donation to social organizations to stop the misuse o funds. “The Council neither came to us not has donated a single penny.” he complains. “We don’t know what type of social organization is liable to get the fund,” he quips.
They give a twist to their story coming to the children’s front. According to them, mentally retarded children and disabled children should not be discriminated as what most of the people including parents do. They also need affection and love. Mr. Manandhar, cited an example of discrimination by the authority in an event organized by Nepal Para Olympics, saying that the name of his Kendra was removed despite Mr. Manandhar’s name in the committee. As a result, the children were not provided with lunch. “After a long and heated discussion, lunch was then provided to our children,” he said.
The mentally retarded children at the Kendra have proved that they can make an earning by doing something creative if they are properly guided. They make candles commercially. The Manandhars have a message for all: “The only difference between those children and us, is that, we are a bit faster and they are a bit slower. Under no circumstances should parents discriminate their children.
