Kancha

Kancha has lived on the streets of Kathmandu for many years after conflict between his parents at home caused him to run away. His days were filled with gathering scrap plastics to sell for survival and avoiding bad people on the street who were using drugs and alcohol which often turned them violent.

Then in 2020, not long after lockdowns were implemented across Nepal, Kancha met a member of SathSath’s street outreach team, Toybox’s partner in the country. From then on, his life started to change.

“My life on the street was just really full of roaming around and collecting scrap plastic before.” Kancha

"Soon on the streets, I found my friends and we all started living together in a shelter we made. We have some dogs too who live with us and I love playing with them. Living on the street is hard because there is lots of discrimination and bad behaviour towards us as street children from the community. They hate us and think we are very bad people who drink and use drugs and steal from them. As children, we are naturally more weak than adults so they think they can bully us. Whenever we are outside someone’s shop or house, they tell us to go away and stop disturbing them and their business. It’s hard.

Then one day, we met Sunil Sir from SathSath during the Covid-19 pandemic. He helped us with things like First Aid, clothes and food, and when we could do activities again, he started doing football training sessions with us. It was so fun making new friends and playing different games again – I’m feeling more comfortable now and love learning new things they teach us. As a child, I loved playing football so to play again is just a dream for me. I would love to be a football player in the future.

I’ve also been to a few activities at the Learning Centre which is new for me. Before, I hated school but now, I enjoy doing the activities there – I get paper, pencils and colours so I can do drawing which I think I’m really good at. And I’m even learning things I would’ve learned in schools like real subjects. The activities and having friends there make time go quicker so I enjoy my life more. We’ve also learned about our rights too. Now I know that a birth certificate is important for my future and to have my national identity. The most important thing for me is to get my birth certificate and find my family again because I miss them."

"That said, I love my friends. We all live together with our dogs. I love dogs so much. I’ve got a German Shepherd cross who I adopted off the street called Baby. He is three years old. Spending time with him and our other dogs makes me so happy, I really try to spend time with him every day. It’s fun playing with him. He also protects us from dangerous people and comes to work with me when I’m looking for scrap. I think having a dog has made my more loving, caring and happy. He’s taught me how to be friendly and loyal too. Feeding him, playing with him and making sure he has a warm place to sleep are really important to me.”