Samjhana Himalayan Children’s Charities Earthquake Victim

5-year-old Samjhana is in grade 1 and lives in a remote village in the high mountains. She lost her father during the earthquake, who had recently moved his family back to his village from the Terai flatlands. Samjhana, which means “a remembrance” has a mother and two older brothers who are both studying at an organization in a neighboring district, where they were sent after the earthquake when the family was experiencing extreme hardships. “Life has been very difficult for me and my children after the earthquakes and the death of my husband and we have been subject to humiliation and abuse, as I am from a different community. Nonetheless, I have managed to build a small house all by myself, and I have a small piece of land where I cultivate rice, potatoes, and corn. I want to keep my children with me,” Samjhana, like her mom, is determined and willful. She has a big imagination and likes to play pretend, and she is currently learning to ride a bike.

Finally the day arrived and we had to arrive at the venue by 3. We rushed to the models and did the final fittings. By that time, Dinesh Uncle, Hira Aunt and Bruce Uncle had arrived. As my sequence was on the 4th we had a huge rush backstage that let me meet them only for a brief minute and we couldn’t even click a picture together. Show started at 7. After the third sequence we had the models change into our designs. Finally, our design was on the runway, and we walked at the end of the sequence with our showstopper, Simpal Kharel. While walking on the runway, there were a huge number of audiences, included; designers, press media, journalists, photographers, ambassadors, etc. After our sequence, we went backstage and we really had a roller coaster of emotions. All those sleepless nights, stresses, no meal days and all the difficulties we went through were finally over. It was worth everything. This concludes my three years of learning and we had the chance to showcase it to the crowd and people. After our sequence we finally had the time to breather. All along these past three months it felt as if somebody had put on something in our neck as we were suffocating but now it felt as if it had been let go. We could breathe in peace.

After the runway we had a huge feast and that tasted like the best meal that I had for the entire life.