11- year-old Basudev Bhattari comes from Dhulikhel Municipality, ward no.6, Ramche Chankhubesi, Kavre district, only about 60 kms. from Kathmandu. He lived in his uncle's house with his father, who did not own any property or land. After his mother's elopement, Basudev had to face hatred and humiliation from other members of the family. He did not get an opportunity to attend school. After his father's death he ran away from home.

He started working in a sweet shop in Banepa, where he had to work day in and day out from 5 o'clock in the morning to as late as 9 am in the night. He found it very hard and left the job after two months. Apart from two meals a day, he was not given any salary. He again worked as a waiter in another hotel for about a month.

From Banepa he came to Kathmandu and worked as a domestic helper in a house in Baneshwor. The masters used foul language even when he made small mistakes. Tired of ill behaviour from the masters, Basudev ran away from there and took to the streets. A man offered him a job in a carpet factory at a salary of Rs. 600 a month. After working for 6 months in that factory, when he asked for his salary, he was turned away. In the mean time, Basudev had learnt to weave carpets pretty well and according to the agreement, he should have received salary of 3 months which was Rs. 1,800 @ Rs. 600 a month. He felt cheated for not getting any money for all the hardship he went through, so he left this job.

While walking alone in the streets, he saw an Indian man picking plastics and garbage and Basudev followed him to junkyard, where he learnt about the work and rate of plastic and metal scraps. Then he started working as a rag picker to survive on the street. On the very first day he earned some twenty rupees but had to go hungry the another day as it was raining. Struggling with hardships, Basudev kept working as a rag picker for a year.

As Basudev was very obsessed with bicycles, he went to work in a bi-cycle repair shop out of curiosity. He did some repair of punctured tyres and it made him happy because he could ride those bi-cycles occasionally. One fine day when he was riding a new bi-cycle from the shop, one of his friends Jeevan came and asked to ride his bike, but his friend ran away with the new bi-cycle leaving him in trouble. When the bi-cycle shop owner found out about this, he became furious and started hitting him so bad that Basudev's face became red with blood. The owner asked Basudev to pay him off the cost of the bi-cycle, otherwise he will chop off both his legs. Basudev promised to pay him Rs. 50 a day by working. Basudev then ran away to Bhaktapur from him as could not earn Rs. 50 a day. But the man was still after him. Basudev smart enough escaped from his hands and came to Kathmandu, where he met a rag-picker boy named Jayram. After hearing Basudev's story, Jayram suggested that he go to the CWIN Socialisation Centre. After a few days, in the socialisation centre, he was referred to CWIN Children's Home, a transit centre for children at risk.

During his stay in the CWIN Children's Home, there was a great change in his behavior. He took an active interest in both sports and studies. He got along very well with other children at the centre and showed a potential for leadership.

He is progressing a lot in his performances in the center and in other outer activities. He is now an active member of CWIN Child Rights Forum, formed by the children themselves who are staying in different CWIN centres. He has also been participating in various programmes being organised by CWIN and other organizations working for the child’s rights. He is also very talented in other creative activities like drawing and acting. He has recently acted in an awareness video-slot on domestic child labour made by CWIN which is being talecast in national television. Some of his achievements are

• He has actively participated in a workshop 'Children's participation: Children's Vision' organised by Redd Barna Nepal from 5 to 7 September, 1997.

• Has own first prize for puzzle game and second prize for painting competition organised by Children At Risk-Network Group (CAR-NWG) to mark Children-at-Risk Day in September 14, 1997.

• And participated as a trainer in Child Rights Conference organised by Plan International from 16-21 November 1997.

Basudev wants to study and become an engineer in future so that he can build his own home and wants to work for the children who are underprivileged and have to face problems like he did. Today, he is an avid internet surfer.