Kirtipur, February 4:

The children working in stone quarries at Chobhar have proved it wrong that only parents can show their children the right track. Min Bahadur Gurung, a labourer at a stone quarry, was responsible for the poverty his wife Geeta and daughter Meera faced. Gurung used to remain inebriated from dawn to dusk. It was difficult for his wife to earn two square meals a day, let alone send her daughter Meera to school. But things have changed. The children in the stone quarry community of Chobhar have brought their parents on right track. Dhaneshwore Rai, father of 14-year-old Parwan, said: “People never came close to me because of the stink of alcohol. My children never felt comfortable to acknowledge me in public and among their friends.”

Min Bahadur Gurung said, “Cultural programmes organised by the children through child clubs made us give up our careless and bad habits.”