From an article written by Micheal Hess, Director, Papa's House, Kathmandu.
Mikel Dunham met my brother Peter at Davidson College last year when he was giving a lecture on Nepal.Mikel
was here recently (April-May 2007) working on his documentary on the effects
of the last ten years of Maoist insurgency. Most of our children are here because of the Maoists. Mikel wanted to interview a
few of the children; I know their history, but the children have never
talked about their past. One or two have alluded to it in unspecific
terms at times, but for the most part it is all kept inside, and I have
chosen to wait for them to decide if they want to talk about it or not.
I asked a few children if they would like to talk on camera about why
they are living in Papa’s House and they said yes. Under the comforting
and gentle voice of Govinda Rijal, Mikel's assistant, the interviews
began.
Excerpt from one boy's story:
I
have been in the orphanage for one and a half years. There was a Maoist
problem in my village. The Maoists came to our house and asked for
things, food. They came at night and if we could not provide food for
them, they would beat us and do a lot of bad things. They showed us
their guns and told us over and over, if we didn't give them what they
wanted they would hit us and shoot us. They used to close the school
and take us to their programs.
One time they came and when I
refused to go with them, they beat me. Then they took me to a far, far
place. They did not give me food. And they threatened me. if I didn’t
stay with them, the police and army would come and beat me. They locked
me in a room. In the morning, they opened it again and brought me and
some other children to a place far inside the jungle. One night, in the
jungle, they told us that we could go home. But we were so far away
that we didn’t know where our home was. So we could not leave. Then
they took us further ahead and said, “You now have to join us.” They
gave me a Maoist name.
My mom and father were looking for me but they didn’t know where I was.
One night we managed to escape from the Maoist camp in the jungle and
I found my way back to my village. My family sent me away to here, to
Papa's house so that I could be safe and get an education. I don't want
to go back to my village.
For more information about this orphange, link to Papa's House
