Kathmandu__
On National Children’s Day, a volunteer involved in relief efforts for children affected by the Bhotekoshi floods has shared a message emphasizing the need to protect children’s happiness and hope amid the disaster.
Jyoti Gaire, Chief Executive Officer of the Golyan Foundation, said the foundation’s team has been working with flood-affected children from the very first day of the disaster.
Gaire shared the message while reflecting on the foundation’s more than two weeks of work with children at its centre in Nuwakot. She said the team initially went to provide food and shelter but gradually realized that helping children regain a sense of safety, joy and normal childhood was equally important.
“No child should carry tomorrow’s uncertainty on today’s small shoulders. That weight belongs to us, not them,” Gaire said.
According to her, floods can take away homes and disrupt children’s sense of security, replacing laughter and play with fear and uncertainty. In such circumstances, children need an environment where they can once again laugh, play and dream without fear.
The foundation has been engaging children through stories, small games and shared activities, creating moments in which they can temporarily forget the hardships brought by the disaster.
“For a few hours each day, these children forgot the hardship life had handed them. They simply got to be children again,” she said.
Gaire said every child deserves the right to be happy, laugh without reason, play freely and dream without fear, adding that these are not privileges but fundamental elements of childhood.
She also emphasized that the responsibility of adults is to ensure that children are not forced to carry the burden of uncertainty created by disasters.
“Our only duty is to make sure that even in their darkest days, they still get to run barefoot, laugh without holding back, dream without limits, and simply enjoy the gift of being young,” she said.
Gaire said seeing the return of children’s laughter amid the devastation caused by the floods has been one of the most meaningful experiences for the foundation’s team.
“Watching a child’s laughter return is the most beautiful thing we’ve found. It reminds us gently, powerfully, that life goes on, that joy survives, and that hope is worth protecting with everything we have,” she said.
Golyan Group Has Managed Shelter for 68 Flood-Affected Families Since Day One, Deploying 50 Volunteers Daily in Bidur