Young amputee survivors of Nepal quake forge friendship
Two young resilient girls who survived the Nepal earthquake, but suffered the devastating loss of a leg became fast friends in the aftermath, helping each other rebuild their lives.
For Associated Press photographer Niranhan Shrestha, who chronicled the lives of these two eight-year-old girls for several months after the April 25, 2015 disaster, this was a story of hope amidst the monumental tragedy that killed nearly 9,000 people and injured more than 22,000. He reflected on their story, "There has been so little rebuilding in the year since the earthquake; so few success stories. But these two girls showed me how strong people can be."
Best of friends, Khendo Tamang, left, and Nirmala Pariyar, both 8, wait to be measured for a new prosthetic legs in Kathmandu, Sept. 8, 2015.
Nepal quake survivors
After suffering serious leg wounds in Nepal's massive 2015 earthquake that killed and injured thousands, both girls were brought to the Bir Trauma Center in Kathmandu, for single leg amputations. Nirmala Pariyar, now just 8-years-old, lost her right leg. Khendo Tamang had lost not only her left leg, but her elder sister and grandmother.
Shrestha reported, "The sounds in the trauma ward of Bir Hospital two months after the Nepal earthquake were hard to take: The screams of patients suffering with fractured bones, or mourning for amputated limbs, as helpless family members attempted to comfort them. I couldn't bring myself to take out my camera and point it at people here, so instead I tried to comfort them, too, and listen to their stories. I was drawn to a corner of the ward where a young girl missing a leg was smiling while doing physiotherapy. She was the only patient with a smile. That was the first time since the earthquake I felt such deep contentment."
"A few days after my visit, I returned to see Nirmala and her family. 'Uncle, you are back again,' she said, flashing me that smile." said the photographer. "One day, I saw another 8-year-old girl, Khendo Tamang, lying in the bed next to Nirmala. She was crying and holding her mother, whose face showed her anxiety."
In this photo, Khendo, left, and Nirmala, share a single pair of shoes at the Bir Trauma Center in Kathmandu, July 15, 2015.
Nepal quake survivors
Following their surgeries, Nirmala's relentless cheerfulness drew a still very depressed Khendo close and both found an inseparable friendship, which has helped their emotional wounds heal.
The parents of both girls decided to keep them together. Seeing Khendo helped Nirmala realize she was not alone. Nirmala tried her best to plant a seed of hope in her, cracking jokes, or making weird faces to elicit a smile. Slowly, it worked.
Nirmala draws pictures of herself and her friend Khendo at the trauma center, July 24, 2015.
Nepal quake survivors
"Every time I went, I saw small changes in Khendo. Slowly she, too, started to smile. The girls started to call each other "Sathi,"which means friend in Nepali. They never called each other by their names."
Khendo, in yellow, stands by the bedside of her best friend Nirmala, as she cries in pain during treatment on her amputated right leg in the trauma center, July 24, 2015.
Nepal quake victims
Nirmala practices using her crutches to move around at the Bir Trauma Center, July 6, 2015.
Nepal quake survivors
"They were like neglected flowers that finally were tended and slowly bloomed. They were two bodies, each missing a leg, but leaning on one another for support."
Khendo, left, and Nirmala, sit together as they are fitted for new prostheses at a clinic in Kathmandu, Sept. 8, 2015.
Nepal quake survivors
Nirmala gets measured for a prosthetic leg at a clinic in Kathmandu, Oct. 5, 2015.
Nirmala's severe leg wounds were suffered after the home she was in collapsed while visiting her father in Kathmandu when the massive earthquake happened. She was at a neighbor's watching TV when the quake caused the apartment to collapse on them.
Nepal quake survivors
"I don't think my daughter will lose hope," said Chitra Bahadur Nepali, Nirmala's father. "She is a really strong kid."
Nirmala is carried by her brother on a walkway in Kathmandu, Aug. 19, 2015.
Nepal quake survivors
Khendo, left, and Nirmala, play on a mobile phone at the trauma center in Kathmandu, July 6, 2015.
Nepal quake survivors
Spending months together, enduring surgeries and physical therapy with their new prostheses, the girls became inseparable and both relied on that friendship to help ease emotional wounds.
Khendo, left, and Nirmala, practice walking with new prosthetic legs at a clinic in Kathmandu, Oct. 16, 2015.
Nepal quake victims
Nirmala looks out a car window after her best friend Khendo was dropped off at a relative's house, Aug. 19, 2015.
Nepal quake victims
Mangale Dong Tamang carries his crying daughter Khendo after she was released from the amputee hospital, in Kathmandu, Aug. 19, 2015.
Khendo was heartbroken after being separated from her closest friend Nirmala.
Following their discharge from the hospital, the girls continue physical therapy in the same Kathmandu clinic, partly funded by the aid group Handicap International.
Nepal quake survivors
Khendo is now attending school in Kathmandu with the help of a man her family met following her severe leg injuries. This surprise benefactor, a westerner studying Buddhism in Nepal, is paying all her fees, which come close to $1,300 a year. The family still does not know the man's full name.
Khendo Tamang studies at her aunt's shop in Kathmandu, April 20, 2016.
Nepal quake survivors
Nirmala plays with her nephew in Kathmandu, Aug. 19, 2015.
Nepal quake survivors
Nirmala lives with her parents in a makeshift room of a small textile factory where her father works in Kathmandu. He left their farming village years ago to come to the capital to earn more money.
The young girl looks out from the balcony of her brother's apartment in Kathmandu, Aug. 19, 2015.
Nepal quake survivors
Chitra Bahadur, foreground, and Maya Pariyar, the parents of Nirmala, sit in a makeshift room in a small textile factory in Kathmandu, March 25, 2016.
Nepal quake survivors
Maya Pariyar, 39, styles the hair of her daughter Nirmala at a textile factory in Kathmandu, March 28, 2016.
Nirmala has not been in school for a year now, something that deeply worries her parents. The high costs of $1,300 per year for her to go to school in Kathmandu are just unimaginable for them.
Nepal quake survivors
Nirmala helps her father at a textile factory in Kathmandu, March 25, 2016.
Nepal quake survivors
Khendo adjusts her prosthetic leg in Kathmandu, March 9, 2016.
Nepal quake survivors
Khendo walks with the assistance of her mother Yagnsen and family friend Chitra Bahadur after receiving a new prosthesis at a clinic in Kathmandu, Oct. 16, 2015.
Nepal quake survivors
Khendo attends a school class in Kathmandu, April 20, 2016.
Nepal quake survivors
Khendo, left, and other classmates sing a song at school in Kathmandu, April 20, 2016.
Nepal quake survivors
Chitra Pariyar and his daughter Nirmala rest on a bench in Basantapur Durbar Square, Kathmandu, March 12, 2016.
Nepal quake survivors
A teddy bear and the image of Buddha are placed inside the makeshift shelter of Khendo's grandfather in Banskharka, April 8, 2016.
Khendo was in a packed house with her grandmother, sister and many other villagers who were discussing ways to alleviate their poverty. When the quake struck, the house collapsed, killing her grandmother and her sister and leaving Khendo with severe leg injuries.
Nepal quake survivors
Khendo stands near the debris of the collapsed home she was trapped in after the April 25, 2015 earthquake struck in Banskharka, April 8, 2016.
Shrestha documented the girls' story because it was important for him to show "How two downtrodden souls can find support in one another. How one small angel can help her friend stand and see the beauty of survival."