Now I am so tall

Rabina Regmi

My name is Rabina Regmi. I was born in 1997. I was born in the central, southern part of Nepal. My village is beautiful, full of forests and birds chirping here and there. Many small rivers are in my village. As a child, I read in class two. All the villagers called me names as a small girl because my height was less at that time but now I am so tall.

One day in Tihar [a Hindu festival] my mother told my daddy, "I will go meet my brother to get tika." But my daddy disagreed. My mommy was angry with my daddy and she took me and my brother and we went to meet her brother. When we were in the bus in one place there was a clash between the Maoists. They threw a bomb at our bus, and at that time we were in the front seat. My daddy didn't know we were in an accident. When he listened to the radio he knew we had an accident. And when he knew, as soon as possible, daddy took us to a hospital near India. We were badly injured. Me and my brother's faces were burned, and my mother's whole body was burned. After some days, mommy's hand and leg swelled up. Me and my brother went to see our mother after an operation. Her face was so sad. She said to me go take rest. I went, I took rest. After I went she said to daddy, "Love your son and daughter. Give them good knowledge and education." After thirteen days my mother died. My father for a long time was like a mad man. We didn't know our mother was dead at that time.