Real Life Stories - Sanu Bhai’s story

Sano Bhai (‘Sanu Bhai’ means little brother in Nepalese) was born to a very poor and illiterate family in the remote area of Tanahu district in Nepal. He was born as the seventeenth child in his family.  His father Santaman and mother Saili had a total of 19 children of which only ten survived. His parent’s main occupation is weaving bamboo handicrafts called Dhoko and Nanglo.

Two years ago, a man called Ghana Syam from the same district visited the family to buy some handicrafts. He went to the small thatched hut of Santaman but found nobody at home and the door closed. He heard the sound of a child crying endlessly in the hut and opened the door to find a small disabled boy looking after his younger sister. The boy had one blind eye and one leg was burned, joining the calf and thigh together, this was Sanu Bhai.

During one disastrous day two years earlier, the whole family had left home with their products to sell them at the local market and to buy their basic materials to ensure an income for the family, as they did every day. Sanu Bhai was left alone at home suffering from a severe eye infection, which would eventually cause him to lose his sight in one eye.

When the family came back home they found that Sanu Bhai’s leg was eaten away by fire below the knees. The open stove inside the house wasn’t put out properly, and due to his young age and bad eyesight he had fallen into the fire. He was about 14 months old.

Even being disabled this remarkable little boy provided help to his younger sister by looking after her. It was Ghana Syam who brought Sanu Bhai to Child Welfare Scheme’s Asha Clinic, in Pokhara for help.

After being examined by Asha Clinic’s doctor he was referred to several hospitals for further check ups to determine what we could do to help this little boy. Unfortunately there was nothing we could do for his eye but ‘Green Pastures Hospital’, a part of Asha’s referral network, kindly provided operations for Sanu Bhai’s leg.

(The cost of the extensive treatment received by Sanu Bhai was US$580 including his operations, medication and his clinic stay totaling 128 days.)

CWS not only helps hundreds of children like Sanu Bhai to receive medical treatment every year, but the improved cooking stove project helps poor people in mountain villages to install a brick built stove that is much safer, especially for young children, keeps the air clean and uses less wood.  This project has decreased the number of severe burns like Sanu Bhai’s, reduced respiratory diseases and slowed down the deforestation and erosion of the Himalayan foothills.