Sita Khanal, a 10-year-old girl orphaned by war and deserted by her mother, is not deserted by the society. An orphan's home has taken over the task of bringing her up.
Sita became parentless at the age of four when her father Rajendra Khanal was killed during Nepal's civil war launched by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN-M) in 1996.
Her mother Basanta married someone else who was not keen on raising Khanal's daughter.
Abandoned by her mother, Sita was sent to Nepal Children's Organization (NCO), a non
-governmental body that provides home and new life for abandoned and orphaned children.
Sita told Xinhua that she did not remember any of the life she lived with her parents in
Gokhunga village in Arghakhanchi, a western Nepali district hard hit by the decade-long uprising which claimed more than 16,000 lives.
Neither did she know about the uprising nor how her family became involved in it. The war ended in 2006 when the CPN-M signed a comprehensive peace accord with the government.
Now a fourth grader, Sita aims to do well in the School Leaving Certificate (SLC), the final examination in the secondary school system of Nepal, which she will take in six years.
After she graduates, the NCO will help her complete two years of high school education and then she has to stand on her own feet, according to the body's rules.
Sita is not perturbed as the deadline is still faraway. There are other children like her in Bal Mandir, the home in Nepali capital Kathmandu run by the NCO. Sita shares her joy and sorrow with them.
Recently, when the Nepalis celebrated their two biggest festivals, Dashain and Tihar, Sita did not miss her parents since she did not remember them at all. Instead, she enjoyed staying with her friends at the current home, which provided them with festival food and new clothes.
What happens if she falls ill? Doesn't she miss her parents then?
"We have a doctor who comes twice a week and a nurse who stays at the home for 24 hours," said Ram Krishna Subedi, chief of Bal Mandir's house management section.
"Besides, there are nannies to interact with the children regularly." Many civil war orphans come from very poor families. Now staying at the NCO home,they do not need to worry about problems of food or clothing. Instead, they have the advantage of receiving school education.
"They may not have their parents, but we are their family," Subedi said. "After they are 18, the NCO will also try to find suitable grooms for them if they want to get married."