Srijana is ten years old. She is an intelligent, creative and hugely affectionate child. It is difficult, when one spends time with her, to think that she has gone through so much in her short life, but in another way it's not difficult at all; her story is echoed, again and again, by so many children in this troubled country.

Srijana's father, Bhim, was an only child. His parents died from tuberculosis when he was young, and he was brought up by another family. Later he moved to Kathmandu and married a woman from the east of Nepal, and they had two children, Srijana and Nischal. However, life in Kathmandu was expensive and difficult for the family, and to make matters worse, Bhim started to drink heavily. Her mother, unable to cope, ran away. Bhim took his children back to his home village, but, without family connections to rely on and with little employment to be found, he continued to struggle financially. His wife turned up once, to ask for custody of the children; when he refused, she disappeared for good.

Bhim became friendly with an elderly Untouchable couple in the village, and hit upon what he thought could be a solution to his problems – he would leave his children with this couple, in exchange for promising to support the couple financially, and travel to India in search of work. This is an option that many Nepalis take. Work is relatively easy to find on India's plentiful building sites and quarries – but it is also badly paid, dangerous and chronically under-regulated. Many families in the south of Nepal are practically fatherless, the men spending long months in India with little contact in order to send money home. People disappear in India; money stops arriving, and families are left with little or no way of finding out if their loved ones are alive or dead.

For a while Bhim's plan worked. But then money stopped coming. The elderly couple caring for Srijana and Nischal were forced to take a bag from house to house, begging food from the other villagers. The villagers made inquiries, and learnt that Bhim had been working on a road, high up in the mountains. He had fallen down a steep ravine, and died of his injuries.

Srijana and Nischal now had no-one in the world to support them. Most people in Nepal have a wide and complicated network of family members, often living nearby, whom they can rely on to help in a crisis, but they had nobody. Thankfully, the villagers had heard of Hindu Vidyapeeth, and contacted them for help. Two years ago, Srijana Nepali arrived at Hindu Vidyapeeth School, Ghorahi, Dang. Her brother was taken in by another organisation.

Even by the standards of Nepal's predominantly poor, rural population, Srijana and her brother had been in deprived circumstances. In Nepal, most people – even the poorest – eat dhal (lentil soup) as part of nearly every meal. It is a vital source of protein in a country where meat is scarce and expensive. When Srijana arrived at Hindu Vidyapeeth she did not know what dhal was, or milk, or eggs. When asked what she'd eaten before, she could only think of rice, spinach and potatoes. She was so dirty when she arrived that the other children shrank away from her in disgust, but Bhola Nath Yogi, Hindu Vidyapeeth's founder and headmaster of the school at Ghorahi, Dang, took her in. After being bathed, clothed and fed by the Yogis, the other children at the school soon accepted her, and this is really where Srijana's good luck began.

With the help of a western sponsor, Srijana has been able to live in the school's hostel with more than twenty other underprivileged children. She receives her education at Hindu Vidyapeeth, excelling in her studies and thriving in the caring, nurturing environment that has been provided by the school. Now for the first time she has a community around her who care for her, where her 'untouchable' status is no barrier to success and where she can eat, work and play in a healthy and happy environment. Last year HVP was able to arrange for her brother Nischal to join her at the school, and now both children have been moved to the newly established Children's Peace Home.

The Children's Peace Home, located in Parsa, 7KM from Ghorahi, is a residential centre for underprivileged children studying at HVP Dang. Here, in addition to their formal education, the children have an opportunity to gain vocational skills. They are taught basic farming, vegetable growing and other aspects of agriculture. In a country where 85% of the population is still entirely reliant upon subsistence farming, these skills will be invaluable in later life to children such as Srijana and Nischal, children who have no family to teach them how to make their way in the world. With the help of HVP, Srijana's future looks secure.

Thank you so much.