Fund set up for injured refugee boy (Reproduction)

By MARK HAYWARD

2008MANCHESTER – A bank fund has been set up to help the family of the 6-year-old refugee boy who was critically injured when struck by a car last Saturday.
Maousham Adhikari remains in an induced coma at Massachusetts General Hospital, said his father, who has been at his side since the accident.

On Thursday, doctors postponed a surgery to reset his jaw because they were fearful of complications, said Basu Adhikari.

The boy's jaw, ribs and collarbone are broken. And his spinal cord and brain may have some damage.

The boy's left hand and limbs have moved, but the right side has shown no movement, an indication of possible brain damage, his father said.

"It's very, very painful," Adhikari said. "I feel like 'why that happen, why to the innocent, why not to me?'"

In Manchester, friends and school employees have set up the Adhikari Family Donation Fund through Citizens Bank. Donations can be accepted at any bank location, said Kim Calhoun, a Manchester school social worker assisting the family.

The money will be used to help the family with immediate needs such as food, a telephone and transportation from Manchester to the hospital.

Already, fellow students at Gossler Park School have raised $660. The Queen City Rotary has said it will contribute. And West High teacher Jeanne Rubenson has obtained gift cards from her synagogue for the family, Calhoun said.

Volunteers have driven family members back and forth to the hospital. On Thursday, Calhoun and her friend brought the boy's mother and a Hindu priest to the hospital.

The Adhikaris moved to Manchester this summer, part of a wave of Bhutan refugees who have immigrated to the United States from a refugee camp in Nepal.

Adhikari said the Bhutanese refugees are Hindus who are discriminated against in their south Asian country, which is predominantly Buddhist. Adhikari was at a teacher-training college when his family fled the country. He returned home to find his house burned and joined them in Nepal, he said

Adhikari and his family lived 18 years in the Nepalese refugee camp before emigrating. The accident, which took place Saturday evening, came at a pivotal time for the family, Calhoun said.

"They were just at the point of starting to become independent," Calhoun said. Adhikari's two older children had found jobs — one at a McDonald's, the other at a hotel — and he was working sporadically as a translator at Manchester schools.

Now, he spends all his time with his son. Doctors have said the boy could be in the hospital for months, Adhikari said.