Kathmandu, Mar. 16:The miracle of his life arrived to dhun Lal Gaire in June 1991 – he could walk on his feet. Gaire lost his walking ability when he accidentally fell from bed at the age of eight months.

He had a long and arduous struggle against social odds and physical difficulties to attain today’s social position. Before the operation at HRDC, an NGO-run hospital for physically disabled, some nine years back, he used to use all four hands and legs to move around that included a distance of three-hour walk he required plying to attend high school back in his village in Baglung district. His village lies in three-day walk distance from the district headquarter and the nearest motorable road.

“I could have been saved from a lot of trouble if my village had better health facilities, “Gaire says, now a college student. According to him, he was taken to series of faith healers for treatment during his childhood, before his parents finally gave up and admitted him to a local school.

However, his quest for education was not a bed of roses. After ocmpletion of class three from a local school, he ahd to travel to an adjoining village for higher education. He used to cover the three-hour walking distance everuyday to reach the high school. And to earn his school fees, he used to participate in cultural shows held in the village.

Nevertheless, his physicall disability did not stop him from helping out in household works. During schol holidays, as customary to children in the hills, he used to help out his family with cattle herding and other agricultural activities. “Since I used to walk on both my hands and legs, I used to carry things on my back to go to cattle herding,” he says.

The turning point in his life came when he encountered International Fellowship Nepal volunteers in March 1991 in his way to school. They recommended him to a hospital for handicapped in Kathmandu.

“It is a dream come true for me to walk on legs. Though it is my personal triumphant, a lot of people-my friends, relatives, family members and a lot of kind hearted people assisted me to attain this miracle,” the determined young man claims.