Before: Khalte, Rasuwa

Now: Pipaltar, Lito Holding Centre

Grade: 9

I was at school when the flood struck. I thought my village was safe and my family had fled to the hills. But when I reached Chap Dada, my home was gone. I searched, asking everyone if they had seen my family heading uphill. No one had.

Then I met my friend’s mother. She told me my mother was gone. I couldn’t believe it, I still can’t. Sometimes I forget my mother is no more. I get scared thinking of how she would scold me for staying out.

My father has returned home after the tragedy. Meeting him at the shelter left me speechless.

My school survived, but I don’t have the heart to return there. I’ve decided to study here in Pipaltar. Almost all my friends—including my mother, with whom I shared everything—are gone. Being a girl, I have no one to confide in.

During the first few days, it was very difficult to sleep. At night, everyone would wake up panicking and terrified. They would wake up shouting, “The flood is coming, let’s run!” Now, I can sleep a little bit.

The government offered schooling in Kathmandu, but I refused. After losing so much, I just want to stay close to my father and brother—we cannot risk being separated again.

Before: Khalte, Rasuwa

Now: Pipaltar

I survived by a margin of just five seconds. The river came hissing like a snake. My mother was at home and I had just left for school. My aunt had called me, asking me to run away. She is no more with us today. My father was in Tiru village. I don’t even remember when I met him. I stayed at my maternal uncle’s home in Dharapani for 15 days.

Now I only have my father with me. My uncle’s daughter and I wake up early and cook together with everyone. I want to go to school, but no one has told us anything. It has been a month since we started living in the tent. I don’t want to go to Kathmandu to stay in a monastery. I want the government to rebuild my old school (Ramchandra Basic School) in a different place, maybe in Betrawati, though I know it’s not safe.

At night, when I’m about to sleep, I remember my mother the most. I remember her speaking in Tamang language and I even miss her scolding me. I want the government to provide us with safe shelter. Even before, our home was made of zinc sheets, so not that kind.

Before: Khalte, Rasuwa

Now: Pipaltar, Nuwakot

I was halfway from home to the school when the river swelled and I started running. The water touched my feet, but still I kept running. I thought only I had survived, but when I looked back, there were few others too.

Everyone in my family is alive. We don’t know when to eat in the morning or at noon. Whenever they say it’s time, we prepare food together. We’ve had noodles for lunch and it’s the same since the beginning.

My old school still exists. It’s Shree Neelakantha Secondary School in Jibjibe, Rasuwa. But, I don’t want to go back there because I’m afraid and now I know that place is not safe. If good arrangements are made for us, I’m ready to go to Kathmandu instead. But I’ve never been there, so I fear I might get lost. I just want to know where I’ll go and what will happen to my school and my studies.

Before: Khalte, Rasuwa

Now: Pipaltar

In my family, there are my mother, father, two elder sisters, brother, sister-in-law and their daughter. When the flood came, I was getting ready for school. My school’s name is Shree Neelakantha Secondary School. I don’t know if it is still running, or if my friends have started going.

My mother called me and told me, “Run.” The flood killed my grandmother, grandfather, and my uncle’s daughter and son. We used to live together, but they couldn’t run fast. I saw the flood destroying the new bridge when I was running.

I don’t have trouble sleeping, but at night I remember my grandparents, mostly my grandmother who used to cook for me. Whenever I felt hungry or sick, they both looked after me.

People who come here say they’ll help us study in this place itself, but I don’t know if I want to continue my studies. I heard that some children have already shifted to Kathmandu. I’ll go only if my friends go. I don’t want to return to the old place because it’s not safe. I haven’t thought about the future.

Before: Khalte, Rasuwa

Now: Pipaltar

Grade: 8

I studied at Shree Neelakantha School. When the flood came, I was attending early morning tuition, which is free, and for all subjects. They teach one subject a day. It started at 8:00am.

I had two younger sisters, one 7 and one 14. I miss them a lot. The younger one had got an electric shock in the bathroom because of a wire, so the other sister stayed back to look after her. She said she didn’t want to go to school. Now my family is reduced to my mother, my father and me.

I also miss my friends, but half of them were taken by the flood. My favourite player is Ronaldo.

I don’t know what I want to do in future. I’m fine with moving to Kathmandu if my parents agree, but personally, I don’t want to go. I want the government to rebuild the school in the same place.

Before: Hostel of Uttargaya Public School

Now: Ramche

Grade: 6

I lived in a hostel near my school. The flood took it away. I am the only child in my family. My mother lives in Nepal, while my father is abroad. On that day, our tuition finished, and we were about to go eat. Just then, the flood came.

At first, we thought it was small, but as the houses started collapsing, we ran right away. We climbed up the wire netting/fencing at the back of the school and kept running upward to survive. The classroom for grade 8 was on the upper floor, but now nothing remains there. There were 29 students in our class. None was caught in the flood.

However, younger children were caught in the flood, including a friend’s younger sister. After the flood, I went to see the school, but I didn’t feel like looking and went back. Today I have come here again as this is the only path to go home, so I had no choice. Seeing the place where I studied and lived destroyed makes me feel deeply saddened. I don’t know exactly what to do next, but I will have to enroll in a different school to continue my studies.

Before: Khalte, Rasuwa (Uttargaya-1)

Now: Pipaltar

Grade: 9

I studied at Shree Neelakantha Secondary School too. Before coming to Pipaltar, I first stayed at Mohan Acharya’s house in Rasuwa, then in a school that had not been destroyed. I was alone with my distant relatives. All of us were scattered by the flood.

My parents used to live in the upper village for work. I lived down in Khalte to study. Now my family consists of my father, mother, elder sister and younger brother. I lost my two younger sisters. They were at home when the flood came. My mother had called my sister and told her, but thinking that a huge flood wouldn’t come, they remained lying in the bed. That’s why I think they didn’t get a chance to run. I also lost two of my close friends in the flood. At night, I miss them and my sisters a lot.

I don’t want to move to Kathmandu or any other place. I want the government to keep us here and provide us with proper shelter, not where the flood comes. There is fear it could arrive anytime. When I think of school, I worry that I might have fallen behind as it has already started.

Before: Khalte, Rasuwa (In a rented room, living with her uncle and aunt)

Now: Pipaltar

When the flood arrived, I had just gone to my room to eat after attending a tuition class. In class, no one had said anything about a flood. My friends and I had thought it wouldn’t come. When it came, for five minutes I just watched it moving slowly.

My aunt then dropped me at the door. After that she went back to take important documents. I ran up into the jungle with a comb in my hand as my hair was not done.

My eldest uncle lost his elder son and another uncle lost all his family members. I lost my younger sister and my grandmother as well.

After the flood, my sleep is broken, so I wake up very late. I miss sleeping beside my aunt’s daughter and my sisters. It feels weird without them.

Before, I dreamed of the future, but now I can’t even study. Friends sent to Kathmandu are progressing while my education sits halted before exams. My mother won’t send me away until after SEE and I refuse to go this year.

I never want to live near water again. Rain terrifies me, recalling the river chasing behind as I ran. I realised how destructive water can become, and that terror never leaves me.

Before: Devighat

Now: Holding centre near Chandrajyoti School

When the flood arrived, I was just sitting doing nothing in Devighat. My uncle got a call about the flood and we started running. My uncle was slow, but I ran very fast, carrying his son. While running, my mind was completely blank.

My school is on the other side of the river. Since the bridge was destroyed, it has been a month I haven’t gone. I’ll now start studying in Chandrajyoti School, near this holding centre. My admission was done just today, the school didn’t charge money.

Authorities asked me if I wanted to shift to Kathmandu, but I chose not to. Once the bridge is built, I want to go to my old school. Across the Trishuli, my house was swept away, but my grandmother’s home is there. I want to stay there, because it is far and safe.

These days I wake up early, wash my face and go hanging out with my friends. Sometimes I play games on my phone. That’s how I spend my days.

I just hope the government builds the bridge as soon as possible, so I can restart my school.

Before: Devighat ( A three-storey home, now destroyed)

Now: Holding centre near Chandrajyoti School

When the flood struck, I was in my school (Ranabhubaneshwari School). My sisters came to pick me up and we went home. I changed my school uniform, and right then everyone started shouting, “A flood has come!” After that, all of us fled from Devighat toward Pipaltar. My three-storey home is no longer there.

Seeing the flood right before my eyes, I felt that now Devighat is submerged and my home is gone. All my memories are now lost. I wish I could have saved my cycles.

I haven’t been to school until now. From now on, I will go to Chandrajyoti School. I don’t have any friends there, but that doesn’t really matter much. What matters is that I get to go to school.

Even though I saw the flood right in front of me, my sleep hasn’t been disturbed. Right now, my grandmother, grandfather, aunt, mother and three sisters are with me. I spend my days watching TikTok. Before, I used to play Free Fire. I want to become a gamer some day.

Before: Devighat

Now: Holding centre near Chandrajyoti School

Grade: 12

My college used to be in Devighat. I haven’t been there since the flood as it is on the other side of the Trishuli and the bridge that connected Devighat with my school has been destroyed. With my board examinations approaching, I’m very worried.

On the day of the disaster, my mother called me from the temple, warning that a flood was approaching and instructing me to gather my siblings so we could flee to the upper hill. I rushed to bring my brother back from school. Just as I finished changing his uniform, the market building below began collapsing. The ground shook like an earthquake, and the floodwaters were right behind our house. We ran uphill without wasting a second, and saved our lives.

People tell me I can study anywhere, but the subject at the colleges on this side don’t match mine. My only options are crossing to the other side or moving to Kathmandu. But I don’t want to go to Kathmandu.

It’s a huge loss for me that my friends are able to study while I cannot. I want to tell the government: Please build the roads and bridges as soon as possible so that I can return to college.

Before: Khalte, Rasuwa

Now: Pipaltar

Grade: 8

I was at school. A sister who helps at our school told us to run as fast as possible. While running, all I could remember was my mother. The flood took her away. I miss her a lot.

After that incident, it’s been hard for me to sleep at night. I used to study in class 8 at Ramchandra Basic School in Betrawati, Bidur-10, Nuwakot. I haven’t been able to decide whether to go back to school or not. I don’t feel like moving to Kathmandu as the government suggested and I don’t want to go back to the old school either. I just want to go back to Khalte, where I used to live.

I like playing football. I really like the way Neymar plays and his style. My favourite subject is Nepali. I still don't know what I want to be in the future.