SFN has known Laxmi Tamang for a long while. A visual artist with an undergraduate degree and group exhibitions under her belt now, we first met her as an eighth grader among the other children we had been supporting at the Early Childhood Development Center. She had been preparing to study and get into banking after her high school when her skills, interest and aspirations towards fine arts caught our eye and we encouraged and supported her to join Kathmandu University’s School of Arts and Design.
Laxmi knows the trials and tribulations of life within children’s homes acutely, having spent a good chunk of her life there. Despite the best attempts by the institutions, dealing with the loss, ignorance or even neglect of family, loss of their guidance and love can become solitary confrontations for the children and can have long-term impacts in the way they move through the world and their mental health. Arts, she believes, can provide an important outlet and solace for these children. Hence, she wants to pursue art therapy to be able to work with them. She has done a few workshops exploring various possibilities and feels the need to train professionally. She is planning on applying to programs abroad and is determined to make the best of it. A pebble, as small as it may be, creates ripples when thrown into a body of water. Laxmi Tamang, we hope, will become one such precious pebble.