Cute enough, Rejina was born a girl child in a land away from big towns and cities. She would run for her grandmother, who lived nearby in separation, soon after she woke up every morning. “She didn’t prefer me much, not even when she felt hungry”, her mother said. She would eat up the collar of her wardrobe into pieces, bite her hands, and even who she confronted. Our social mobilizer from Leknath, Pokhara Metropolis, hardly dared to come close to her and so did my driver. Her cognitive ability to identify and run for her grandmother modest of her respiration, gave us rising hope every time we chose to walk behind her. Her grandmother held Rejina into her loving arms and fed her to love.

I visited Rejina every day from Pokhara City base, routinely observed activities of her daily living spending days, and worked worth a shot in ways and want of her rehabilitation. She smiled at me, but never spoke up for her right to live and be recognized for her true mental abilities. Her grandmother said, “she prefers always to be dressed like a boy”. The upshot ended up in the resource crunch. With her, I was so happy. Without her, I felt really different. My goals were sustainable, but the resources were not.

The journey reverted and I came back Kathmandu on January 28, 2014 to take up new assignment for Eastern Nepal. The grin and memory of Rejina were left behind forever. I could love her and always wanted good things to happen in her life, and yet so despondently; I really had to move on without her. I hope she still thrives on fresh air and good foods in the country, runs for her grandmother every day, and perhaps stills waits to be rehabilitated amidst threshold sentiment in her seventeen miles journey of Sustainable Development Goals.