The Price I Paid

Published20 December 2016

Reading Time 2 mins

Author Stories of Nepal

Location Nepal

"I have spent 18 long years of my life working for a foreign country. I wanted to go to college, I understood father’s predicament. He was a poor farmer feeding all of us. And as a son, I could not ask a poor man for money so that I could go to college. I had to share with him the responsibility of the family. Work was not available in the village. Farming did not yield much and there were too many mouths to feed. So after a long thought, I collected money from my neighbours. And I left. I was only 20 then. 18 years later today, I am still working for a foreign land. I could come back but I can’t seem to find work that can match my skills and I am used to the work I do. I am paying the price of living away from home, visiting only once every year or once in every two years. The children have grown, but I have missed their childhood. Yes, I have send money home for my family, for my children but they have become distant and every holiday I come home, I feel like an outsider. I have lost touch with my children. I never played with them or helped them with their homework, nor did they have a father to share their problems. Money won’t solve everything in a family, you see. There is no love. They just know the name of the relationship." (Laxuman Magar, Lekhnath 11, Kaski)

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