Shaili & Sahas Reunited

When Shaili and her brother Sahas were just 4 and 5 years old, they were separated.

Their grandmother could no longer care for them, and a neighbour took Sahas to an orphanage in Kathmandu, and then later their uncle took Shaili to a different orphanage in Kathmandu. It would be more than a decade before the siblings would see each other again.

Sahas was taken from one detrimental living situation to another. When he was 10 years old, he was rescued by the Central Child Welfare Board, due to child rights violations at the orphanage where he was staying. Sahas was malnourished and hadn’t been looked after physically, emotionally or psychosocially as a child should.

He was taken to live at a Sano Paila family-style home. With the dedicated support of a house-mother, access to specialist services and the friendship of 10 new siblings, Sahas finally received the care that he needed. But he was still missing one important thing in his life.

Sano Paila arranged for Sahas to visit his village, and there he learned that Shaili had also been taken to an orphanage in Kathmandu. Shaili was so young that she didn’t even remember her brother being taken away, but she had remained in contact with her uncle who had brought her there. After a long search the Sano Paila staff managed to contact the uncle, and let Shaili know that her older brother was eager to meet her.

During the Bhai-Tika festival, which aptly is a celebration of the brother-sister relationship, their uncle brought Shaili to visit Sahas. It was an emotional reunion, and the pair was very happy to finally be together again. They decided that it would be best for Shaili to come and live with Sahas at the Sano Paila home. In October 2020, Shaili moved to start her new life with Sahas, and they celebrated the festival of Dashain together.

It took a couple of months for Shaili to adjust to her new home as it was a big change from the orphanage, but with the help of the family-based environment and love and support from everyone including her brother she has settled in well and is starting Year 10. Sahas has just completed his Year 10 final examinations with a score of 90%, and is excited about going to college next. He dreams of working in medicine or tourism, depending on his college performance, and wants to do social work for his community.

Today Shaili and Sahas are happy, healthy teenagers who are back together and have a bright future. This reunification of family was made possible by the supportive environment of Sano Paila and the generosity of our donors.