Khusbu Pariyar

​Khusbu joined the ONE family for the 2018-2019 school year. Her story is best told through Subash’s letter to us about her and her family.

There is a girl age 11 studying in my school since she was small. Her name is Khusbu Pariyar. She studies in class 3. She studies well. She has three sisters mother and father in her family she is the middle one. She has older sister studying in grade 9 and younger sister of 3 years. Her younger sister hasn’t join yet to the school. Her father is an alcoholic who drinks from morning to evening even her mother don’t know where do his husband get the money to drink. Her mother used to work hard for the whole day to provide them a good education but her father used to keep drinking all the day, come to the home lately and start hitting his wife and the elder sister. Her mother share these things with me with full of tears in her eyes. Her mother used to work hard few years ago for their education but now she can’t do work due to her bad health. She was diagnosed one kidney fail few years ago. Then it became difficult to her to manage money for her treatment and money to educate her girls. She got few of the expenses to cure her kidney problem from the government but still she is struggling to it her kidney problem had been somewhat recovered. Though she had a kidney fail she used to work hard for her kids but the bad luck is due to the extreme use of medicine her bones from pelvic part has been affected. Her bone is being infected by the overdose of medicine. Now it is difficult to her to even walk. She hardly came to school by walking to share all those things with me I noticed her mother walking she was really having so much pain to walk so I ask help from one of my colleague to drive her back to the room. As I heard they used to have home but due to her father alcoholic behaviour and due to loss in their work they had to sell everything and from then they started living in rent in a room. Her elder daughter (Kusum Pariyar) Khusbu’s older sister is joined to the same school and she has been sponsored by one of the nurses group from Kathmandu. So she is asking us to help her daughter Khusbu too.

Subash found out from Khusbu’s teachers that her performance in school is not that great, and he was very concerned about whether or not ONE would help her. Khusbu’s mother is going to need dialysis, and they have no money whatsoever. The foundation has decided to help Khusbu for this year, to relieve some of the pressure on her mother, with the caveat that she has to improve her performance in school. We are paying for some extra tutoring for her, and we are hoping that she will feel a little more comfortable and able to study and advance.

November 2023

Khusbu is in 9th Grade and will be thinking about next year, her state exam, and what she wants to do after she leaves 10th grade. Khusbu seems to love sports and being active, if her most recent letter for the end of her last year is any indication. We know she worries about her tests and her grades, but we will help her however we can, even if she decides not to continue on in school.

July 2023

Khusbu has grown up so much! She is entering 9th Grade, and we received a sweet letter from her and some wonderful photos from a visit that our friend Jon made to the school in June. Jon says all the students really seem to like the school; they love Subash, and they are all really wonderful people. We are so happy to hear it, and so grateful for Subash (and for Jon’s visit). Khusbu seems to be growing and thriving, and we’re grateful we can help.

November 2022

Subash has sent us some news about Khusbu. He says that she is working very hard to get good grades, and that she does well in her extracurricular activities. He says “she is a very new girl nowadays loved by her teachers and her friends because of her behaviour, her helping nature,her involvement throughout the events and programs, and her very polite and respectful habits.” What a joy to hear this! We know she has struggled with the death of her mother, having her sister move and her other sister go to an orphanage, and not having a reliable place to live. Now that we are also paying for her living expenses and she can count on that, it seems she is really blossoming.

August 2022

Khusbu is doing well in 8th grade, and Subash was finally able to send us her final letter from her 7th grade year. We are happy to receive it and it sounds like she is coming out of the hardships of the year, although it is clear she misses her sister, which is understandable. We will continue to help her with her living expenses so that she feels secure in knowing that she has a place to live while she studies.

June 2022

Khusbu has moved on to grade 8, and our contact Subash says she is doing well. He says her teacher tells him that she is being very serious in her studies and in her other work.

One problem that Khusbu has had in the past year is that after her mother died, her older sister took care of her and her younger sister. Then her older sister went off to study in the higher grades in Kathmandu, and her younger sister was sent to live in an orphanage, because Khusbu can’t take care of her. So Khusbu is living with a neighbor, who was using the money from her older sister’s scholarship to help feed and clothe the girls. Once Khusbu no longer had her sister’s scholarship to help, things became a little harder. Subash asked if we could add to her scholarship so that the neighbor (who is by all accounts a very good person, but not rich) has some money coming in to buy food and clothing for Khusbu. So we agreed to add some money to her scholarship so that she can stay where she is and not be uprooted to some other place, have to change schools, etc. According to Subash, it is helping. Khusbu is more relaxed, and able to focus on her studies, which is the whole point! We’re glad we can help with that aspect of her life as well.

Khusbu entered Class 7 in June. She did pretty well in her year-end exams and grades, and she is still working as hard as she can. Things are still not great for them, but at least they are back at school and she is able to get the help she needs from teachers in person.

Our contact Subash reports that Khusbu is a bit slower of a learner than other students, so her older sister is helping her. He writes: Khusbu wants to engage herself in art and craft-making things in her free time. She is very expressive in what she speaks. She likes to play and take part in sports events and sports activities as well. She likes to represent her school in sports events.

We’re so glad that Khusbu has some things she enjoys at school, and we have hopes that she will be able to do something with her interests in the future.

It has been a very hard year for Khusbu. Her mother died from many health complications, and the pandemic has challenged her even further in terms of school performance. Nonetheless, she continues to study, and is now back in school, where they are being very careful with face masks and shields for protection.

January 2020

We received a wonderful holiday card from Khusbu as she headed off for her winter vacation.

September 2019

Khusbu still struggles with schoolwork, but she loves art and school projects. Our contact Subash says that she really loves school, so that is the best thing of all. At a recent science fair, Khusbu made a wonderful replica of a very famous tower called Bhimsen Stambha, which sadly fell in the 2015 earthquake.

April 2019

Khusbu is still trying hard in school. Our contact Subash tells us that Khusbu still needs to work very hard but that she is really good in speaking, music, and dancing. We’re just glad that she has something she enjoys at school. She passed her year and moves into fifth year, which is very exciting. We hope she’ll continue to work hard and become more comfortable with her studies.

She and the other girls had a lot of new experiences this year, including a craft class, and helping to build a new playground for the school.

October 2018

Khusbu still struggles with school, but she is trying, and we are continuing to help her through the year before we assess what to do. It is hard to not have the support you need at home, but she does say that her mother is doing OK. We hope that she continues to improve, so that Khusbu can worry less and enjoy and thrive in school. Our contact Subash says that Khusbu enjoys music and dance when she has a chance, so maybe we can help with an extracurricular class if her grades stabilize.