“My father had three wives. My mother gave birth to three sisters and me. I was not born when he remarried. When I was 18 months old, my mother eloped with another person. My sisters tell me that my mother never breast-fed me. I don’t know her name and how she looks like. I don’t know mother’s love. I was raised in a family where violence was an everyday thing. My father would come home drunk and fight with my stepmother. He would beat us everyday and when he was a bit sobered up he would take us to the market and buy us toys. The happiness was short-lived as deep down we all knew he will drink again and our suffering would continue. I lived with a lot of fear. Even though I have grown up to understand the affairs of life, I still cling to the issues of abandonment, love and fear.”

Sudeep Bhattarai, Ichowk 7, Sindhupalchowk
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with Save the Children in Nepal

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Sudeep Bhattarai is 16 years old and studies in Shree Tika Vidyashram Higher Secondary School. He is one of the participant in the RACE for Survival (October 18) – a 5 km marathon inside Kathmandu valley where 1000 students between the ages of 14 – 16 from various public schools will take part to engage children to raise their voice to reduce preventable newborn, infant and child deaths.