GOOD NEWS!: The Boy in the Trees - Nepal

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Wednesday morning, August 26, began like an ordinary school day for eight-year-old Zoyal Ghale and his five-year-old brother, Jenish. The boys left home in a school vehicle and headed to school in Nepal's Rasuwa district, near the Tibetan border. Their mother, 28-year-old Matti Maya Tamang, stayed behind, weaving.

 

Then she heard something. It sounded like an earthquake. Matti Maya looked outside. Things were being swept away.

 

High in the mountains across the border in Tibet, part of a glacier had collapsed. An enormous mass of ice and rock had plunged down the mountainside, setting off a devastating chain of flooding and debris that was now tearing through communities downstream in Nepal. And Matti Maya's boys were somewhere in its path. Her first thought was that they were being swept away too.

 

She tried to get to their school. On an ordinary day, it was only a 15- or 20-minute drive from home. But this wasn't an ordinary day anymore. Water, stones and mud had transformed the landscape. Places she knew were simply gone. She couldn't tell where the market had been. She couldn't even tell where the school had been. The school had been destroyed.

But Zoyal was alive. When the flood reached the school, he remembers everything suddenly becoming very, very dark. He and a friend ran. They fled from the school and into the forest, desperately trying to get away from the water and debris. Then they climbed into the trees. Below them, the flood tore through the area.

 

Somehow, Zoyal survived. But he was injured. His right leg was broken, and his face was scratched and bruised. Eventually, police found him. They needed to get the frightened little boy to a hospital. The officers gave him two 10-rupee notes to persuade him to go with them. And Zoyal held on to them.

 

While Zoyal was being taken away for medical care, his mother was still looking for him. She began going wherever survivors were being gathered. One location. No Zoyal. No Jenish. She went to another. Nothing. Then another.

 

By the time Matti Maya reached the fourth location, neither boy's name was on the lists. She had searched through the destruction. She had seen what remained of their school. She had checked four places where survivors were being taken. And still there was no sign of either of her sons. Matti Maya began to believe both of her boys were dead.

 

But miles away, Zoyal was lying in a small, 15-bed hospital in Nuwakot. He was alive. And he was still holding those two little bills in his left hand.

 

Reuters journalist Sahana Bajracharya had heard that an unidentified boy from the disaster had been brought there. She went to see him. Nobody seemed to know where his family was. Bajracharya spoke with Zoyal. He agreed to be filmed in the hope that someone might recognize him. Before leaving, she made sure the hospital had her telephone number.

 

Zoyal needed further treatment, so he was airlifted to a hospital in Kathmandu. His mother still didn't know any of this.

 

Then, in the middle of her search, Matti Maya found Jenish. Her five-year-old was alive. One son was back in her arms. But Zoyal was still missing.

 

Somehow, Matti Maya obtained the telephone number Bajracharya had left behind. She called. The journalist on the other end knew the little boy she was asking about. Zoyal was alive. Matti Maya could hardly believe it. She had already given up hope of finding him alive.

 

But her son wasn't nearby. Zoyal had been transferred to Kathmandu, and bus service had been disrupted by the disaster. So Bajracharya—the journalist who had found an injured little boy whose family couldn't be located—didn't stop with making the telephone call. She arranged transportation to bring his mother to him. Matti Maya and little Jenish climbed into the vehicle and began the trip to Kathmandu.

 

On Friday, two days after the brothers had left home for school, Matti Maya finally walked into Zoyal's hospital room. There was her eight-year-old boy. His leg was broken. His face bore the marks of what he had been through. But he was alive.

 

The little boy who had run into the forest and climbed into the trees had made it. The mother who had searched four locations and finally believed that both her children were dead had found them both.

 

“I felt my life was back,” she said.

 

Their family wasn't quite complete yet. Zoyal's father, a construction worker in Japan, was making his way home to join them.

 

And after everything—the destroyed school, the desperate search, the trees, the broken leg, the unidentified little boy in the hospital, and those two small bills still clutched in his hand—Matti Maya described Zoyal in perhaps the most reassuring way a mother could. He was still her “mischievous kid.”

 

For two days, Zoyal had been a missing child, a flood survivor, an unidentified patient. But finally, none of those descriptions mattered. He was Mom's boy again.

Sources

Reuters — Mother reunited with 8-year-old who climbed trees to survive Nepal floods

Reuters — Nepal flood rescue and survivor coverage

ABC News Australia — Flood devastation and Zoyal's reunion

The Straits Times — Mother reunited with Zoyal

Al Jazeera — Video of Zoyal's survival and reunion

 

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Nepal — more survivors return to their families

 
Amid the terrible loss in Nepal, the continuing rescue operation is bringing welcome news to a growing number of families. More than 4,450 people have now been rescued from flood-affected areas, including at least 187 foreign nationals, according to Nepalese authorities.
 
Among those brought to safety were 191 people rescued from hydropower tunnels. Helicopters and ground crews continue to reach communities isolated by destroyed roads, bridges, landslides and deep mud. As survivors arrive at evacuation and relief centers, more families are finally receiving the news for which they have been waiting.
 
Save the Children confirmed that nine schoolchildren were reunited with their families after being stranded at their school for two days. The children eventually reached an aid-distribution point, where workers helped them locate their relatives. Other separated children are being given shelter and protection while efforts continue to identify and reunite them with their families.
 
Thousands of people are still missing, so the search remains urgent. Nevertheless, the rising number of rescues means that families who feared they had lost loved ones are continuing to experience joyful reunions. Each survivor found gives other waiting families another reason to hold on to hope.
 
Sources: Nepal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Save the Children, Radio Nepal and The Kathmandu Post.
 
Note: This is an original news update composed from facts obtained from the sources listed above.