RUKUM: Om Prakash, 12, of Rugha VDC- 2, aims to be a doctor and serve the poor in remote areas but he is worried if he can make his dream come true.

Om, a sixth grader at Tribeni Higher Secondary School, casts doubt whether his dream will

be realised in the absence of his father who was killed during the insurgency. The Maoists had killed his father Nadiram Pun, a Nepali Congress cadre, in 1999.

Not only Om, Lokendra Chand of the same

village too has a similar story to share.

Another of their ilk, Jhalak Bahadur Budhathoki, 10, of Dangchung is still expecting that his father will return home from India with many dolls

and clothes. Though his father was killed by the Nepali Army in 2001, he still believes his mother's story that she told him that his father was in India to earn money.

According to a CWIN report, there are 48 conflict affected children in the district. Siddharaj Paneru, team leader CWIN, however, maintained that it was a rough estimate.