Happy July everyone! We hope that you are staying cool, whatever part of the country you are in. We wanted to introduce you to our newest student: Kritisha Pariyar from Nepal.

Kritisha just turned 10 in June, and she is attending the same school that all of our students there attend, with our contact Subash as her mentor. Kritisha’s story is unfortunately pretty common these days. We hear a lot about immigration in this country, and we can tend to forget that people all over the world are on the move looking for work. In Nepal, the poorer people often leave the country for the Middle East and the Gulf States; they are in their part of the world what Mexicans and Central Americans are in ours. Kritisha’s mother left for work in the Gulf States when Kritisha was very young. She and Kritisha’s father had divorced and he met and married another woman, and dropped out of the family entirely. When Kritisha’s mother left, Kritisha went to live with her uncle, her mother’s brother, who already had a very large family. She would send work money home to help care for Kritisha, but then the unthinkable happened. Kritisha’s mother committed suicide, leaving her daughter in the care of her brother.

Without the help from his sister, Kritisha’s uncle is having a hard time paying for school costs for his niece. She came to the attention of Subash through Subash’s wife, who is a friend of the family. Subash met her and decided she could use the help, so he presented an application for her to us. Our board decided that this little girl needs something positive in her life, and school is always a good influence. We agreed to pay for her schooling, and since her school only offers classes through 5th grade, she is joining Subash’s school, which will be a very good thing. We hope for her happiness and that she makes many friends and loves her classes. She deserves to live the life of a 10 year old girl, full of play, and dance, and friends. Welcome Kritisha!

Kritisha Pariyar

Kritisha in her uniform on the first day of her new school.