Kathmandu, November 1:

When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was busy meeting President Dr Baran Yadav at the

latter’s office, his wife was with more than 40 street children in a Dhalkhu-based rehabilitation centre.

Lady Ban Soon-taek shared her “tough childhood days” in a war-devastated Korean countryside. She told the children, sheltering in the UNICEF-funded centre, not to lose hope, as she responded to a 15-year-old boy who asked her the secrets of her success.

She said the boy that she and her husband hail from suburban areas, where school classrooms were bereft of benches and desks and sometimes the students had to sit underneath the trees for their class.

“There were no classrooms, desks and benches. At times, we had to study under the shade of trees. At that time, the Korean war had devastated my country,” she recalled.

“We studied seriously and worked hard,”

she told the boys through an interpreter as TV cameras rolled to capture the moment.

“We put up tremendous effort. I would like to ask you not to give up hope. I see your bright future with very strong support from various organisations,” she said.

She asked two eager boys about the circumstances under which they landed up on the street, how they were doing at the centre and what their ambitions were. In his reply, one said, “I hope to become a driver.” “An auto-mechanic,” quipped the other.

Krishna Thapa, president of the Voice of Children, said, “We hope our problems will move the government and other institutions working for the cause of the street children.”

There has been improvement in terms of policy formulation to address approximately 5,000 street children in the country and around 1,000 in the Kathmandu Valley, he said.

Thapa urged Soon-taek to lobby for the abolition of child sexual abuse in the international arena and highlight the plight of the victims.

“She lauded our effort and assured that she would do her best for the street children in Nepal, where 80 per cent of them are victims of sexual abuse,” he added.