• Hope for girl born with hair covering half her face

    Narendra Shrestha / EPA

    Bhawana Thami, then aged 8, cries while her father describes to a journalist her daughter's isolation from other children in their village, before Bhawana underwent surgery in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Feb. 28, 2012.

    By David R Arnott, NBC News

    Bhawana Thami was born with a rare condition that left half of her face covered with hair. Without treatment, the moles that caused the hair to grow could have become cancerous, The European Pressphoto Agency reports.

    When photographer Narendra Shrestha first met Bhawana in February last year, her father explained the trauma that the condition had caused her. People in their village in Nepal had called her names like monster and witch to her face, he said.

    As her father told the story, tears welled up in Bhawana's eyes, Shrestha later recounted. It was at that moment that he took the photo above.

    Narendra Shrestha / EPA

    Bhawana looks at herself in a mirror for the first time after her operation at Model Hospital in Kathmandu on March 9, 2012.

    Within days Bhawana underwent her first phase of plastic surgery, which was supported by the charity Child Workers in Nepal.

    "As she recovered, right after the bandage was removed, she was given a mirror and she didn't let go of it for fifteen minutes," Shrestha recalls. "She just kept looking at herself."

    Narendra Shrestha / EPA

    Kaluman Thami takes Bhawana for a walk around Dusikharka village on Sept. 12, 2012.

    Narendra Shrestha / EPA

    Bhawana stands in front of her teacher and schoolmates during a class at the local school in Dusikharka on Sept. 13, 2012.

    Bhawana returned to her village and began to find acceptance from the villagers who had shunned her. On a visit in September, Shrestha saw her playing a full part in activities at her school and witnessed the warmth of her family life.

    Narendra Shrestha / EPA

    Bhawana poses with her family next to their home in Dusikharka on Sept. 13, 2012.

    Narendra Shrestha / EPA

    Bhawana poses for a portrait on Sept. 13, 2012.

    In February of this year, Bhawana had a second operation that completely removed the hair from her face. She will need to undergo a third procedure when she turns fourteen years old.

    Bhawana's story is one of hope, Shrestha says, and he no longer approaches her just as a photographer: "It’s a different attachment that I feel towards her and her father now, and I cannot detach myself from them, not yet."

    Narendra Shrestha / EPA

    Bhawana lies on a stretcher in an operating room at Model Hospital in Kathmandu on Feb. 20, 2013.

    Narendra Shrestha / EPA

    Bhawana and her father smile from a bus window on their way back to their village after completing the second phase surgery in Kathmandu on Feb. 27, 2013.

    Related:

    Video: 'World's hairiest girl' inspires community

     

  • Exiled Tibetans mark 100th self-immolation with candle light vigil

    Prakash Mathema / AFP - Getty Images

    Exiled Tibetans take part in a candlelight vigil following the self-immolation attempt by a monk earlier in Kathmandu, Nepal, Feb. 13.

    Narendra Shrestha / EPA

    Tibetans-in-exhile attend a candlelit vigil after a Tibetan man self-immolated at Boudhanath in Kathmandu on Feb. 13.

    Niranjan Shrestha / AP

    An Exiled Tibetan participates in a candle light vigil in solidarity with fellow Tibetans who have self-immolated, in Katmandu, Feb. 13.

    Exiled Tibetans in Kathmandu, Nepal, participated in a candle light vigil Wednesday to show solidarity with fellow Tibetans who have self-immolated as a protest against Chinese rule. Earlier in the day, a monk doused himself with gasoline in a Kathmandu restaurant at Boudhanath Stupa, one of the world's holiest Buddhist shrines, and set himself on fire, marking the 100th self-immolation attempt since 2009.

  • The colorful faces of Kathmandu's Yomari Puni festival

    Narendra Shrestha / EPA

    A group of young Nepalese Newari girls wearing costumes representing various deities participate Jyapu Day procession in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Dec. 28. Thousands of the Kathmandu based majority Jyapu, which means ethnic farmers, celebrated farmers day all over the country. The Nepalese government has made the day a national holiday in recognition of the Jyapu.

    Niranjan Shrestha / AP

    A Newar community girl dressed as a deity watches as she participates in a parade marking Yomari Puni festival in Katmandu, Nepal, on Dec. 28. Yomari Puni is a festival observed annually by the Newari community on a full moon day where Yomari, a confection of rice flour, is prepared and eaten.

    Niranjan Shrestha / AP

    Newar community girls dressed as deities participate in a parade marking Yomari Puni festival in Katmandu, Nepal, on Dec. 28.

    See more photos from Nepal on PhotoBlog.

  • Chhat festival concludes with offering to rising sun in Kathmandu

    Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters

    A devotee holds a lamp as she waits for sunrise to offer prayers during the "Chhat" festival in Kathmandu, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012. Hindus in Nepal are celebrating "Chhat", a four-day festival that honours the sun god, by praying at sunrise and sunset and giving offerings to seek blessings for their families.

    Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters

    A hand of a devotee is pictured while offering prayer to the setting sun.

    Prakash Mathema / AFP - Getty Images

    Nepalese Hindu women worship the sun as they stand in the Bagmati River during the Chhath festival.

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  • Blessing of the police dogs (and the cows, too)

    Niranjan Shrestha / AP

    Policemen apply vermillion powder and perform rituals on a dog during the Tihar festival at a police kennel division in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Nov 13, 2012. Dogs are worshipped to acknowledge their role in providing security during the Tihar festival, one of the most important Hindu festivals dedicated to the worship of the Goddess of wealth Laxmi.

    Narendra Shrestha / EPA

    Hindu devotees worship offering food and 'Tika' red color to a cow during 'Gai Puja' cow worship day as part of the Tihar festival in Kathmandu, Nepal on November 13, 2012.

    Niranjan Shrestha / AP

    A cow stands decorated with vermillion powder and flower garland during Tihar festival in Kathmandu on Nov 13, 2012.

    Prakash Mathema / AFP - Getty Images

    Police officers garland their dogs after applying vermillion to their foreheads on the occasion of the Tihar festival in Kathmandu on November 13, 2012.

    Niranjan Shrestha / AP

    A cow stands decorated with vermillion powder and a garland during Tihar festival celebrations in Kathmandu on Nov 13, 2012. Cows are considered sacred to Hindus.

    On Tihar, as the Hindu festival of Diwali is known in Nepal, it is customary for people to offer blessings to dogs (which are seen as messengers of Yamaraj, the god of death) and cows (considered incarnations of Laxmi, goddess of wealth). 

    -- Agence France-Presse, European Pressphoto Agency

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  • Prakash Mathema / AFP - Getty Images

    Buddhists celebrate a full-moon festival in Nepal

    A Buddhist monk lights a candle at the Boudhanath Stupa during a full moon festival in Kathmandu, Nepal, Oct. 29, 2012. The Boudhanath Stupa was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1979.

  • A Buddhist paradise -- now also popular with tourists

    Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

    Buddhist monks play Tibetan trumpets prior to morning prayers at the Thikse Monastery on October 5, near Leh in Ladakh, India.

    Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

    The Thikse Monastery on October 5, near Leh in Ladakh, India. The Thikse monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery of the Yellow Hat (Gelugpa) sect, located on top of a hill, approximately 12 miles east of Leh. It is noted for its semblance to the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet and is the largest monastery in central Ladakh.

    Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

    A Tibetan Buddhist monk during morning prayers at the Thikse Monastery on October 5, near Leh in Ladakh, India.

    Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

    A Buddhist shrine is seen at the Chang La pass, with an altitude of 17,585 feet (5360m) on October 5, near Leh in Ladakh, India.

    Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

    The forecourt of the Likir monastery on October 4, near to Leh in Ladakh, India.

    Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

    The Basgo Monastery, a world Heritage site on October 4, near Leh in Ladakh, India.

    Ladakh, nestled between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, was once an ancient Buddhist Kingdom and for over half a century, a strategic military outpost for India. Ladakh, sharing borders with both China and Pakistan, has seen an increase in tourism over the last few years, an alternative to Nepali Himalayan treks. 

     

  • Asia's first gay sports tournament begins in Nepal

    Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters

    A reveler holds the gay pride flag during the opening ceremony of the first South Asia Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender, LGBT, Sports Festival in Kathmandu, October 12, 2012. The three-day long event is organized by the Blue Diamond Society, a LGBT rights group, to promote the equality, rights and social justice of LGBT through sports, according to Sunil Babu Pant, managing director of BDS.

    Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters

    An athlete practices during the first South Asia LGBT Sports Festival in Kathmandu, Nepal, Oct. 12.

    AFP reports — Hundreds of athletes Friday took part in Asia's first-ever sports tournament for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, organizers said.

    The three-day event at the national football stadium and other venues around Kathmandu kicked off with a soccer match between local teams.

    The tournament features basketball, volleyball, football, martial arts and tennis, said The Blue Diamond Society, Nepal's leading gay rights group.

    Some 300 local athletes had signed up for the games while 20 gay athletes arrived from countries including the United States, Russia, Japan, France and Bangladesh, Pant said.

    Gay Olympic diving gold champion Greg Louganis, who is attending the event, is the big draw.

    New Zealand and Australia host the "Asia-Pacific Outgames", another multi-sports gay event. But the event in Nepal has been billed as Asia's first gay games.

    Homosexuals in the overwhelmingly Hindu nation have started to become more open about their sexual orientation since the end to the decade-long Maoist civil war in 2006 with the gay community staging beauty contests and other events.

    Nepal said in June it would start issuing identity cards with three gender categories -- male, female and transgender.

    Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters

    The shadow of a player casts on the ground while practicing volleyball during the opening ceremony of the first South Asia LGBT Sports Festival in Kathmandu, Nepal, Oct. 12.

    Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters

    Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender players participate in a friendly soccer match during the opening ceremony of the first South Asia LGBT Sports Festival in Kathmandu, Oct. 12.

    Niranjan Shrestha / AP

    Members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community hold the gay pride flag during the opening ceremony of the first South Asian LGBT Games organized by Blue Diamond Society in Katmandu, Nepal, Oct. 12. Around 250 LGBT community members are participating in the festival, according to Nepal's first openly gay politician Sunil Babu Pant.

    Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters

    Nepalese police sit during the opening ceremony of the first South Asia LGBT Sports Festival in Kathmandu, Oct. 12.

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  • Tourists among 19 killed in Nepal plane crash

    AP

    People gather around the burning wreckage at the crash site of a Sita Air airplane near Katmandu, Nepal, early Friday, Sept. 28, 2012.

    Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters

    A Nepalese police officer instructs police personnel at the crash site.

    Prakash Mathema / AFP - Getty Images

    Rescue team members move bodies found in the wreckage.

    Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters

    A woman cries at the crash site.

    Niranjan Shrestha / AP

    Police move the remains of a Sita Air airplane at the crash site.

    NBC News wire reports — A plane carrying trekkers to the Everest region crashed and caught fire just after takeoff Friday in Nepal's capital, killing 19 people.

    The victims included British, Chinese and Nepali passengers, authorities said.

    The pilot of the domestic Sita Air flight reported trouble two minutes after takeoff, and Katmandu airport official Ratish Chandra Suman said the pilot appeared to have been trying to turn back. Read the full story.

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  • Nepalese students protest fuel prices in Kathmandu

    Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters

    Nepalese riot police surround a student participating in a torch rally organized by various student unions in Kathmandu.

    Niranjan Shrestha / AP

    Nepalese students affiliated to various political parties participate in a torch rally against the hike in fuel prices in Katmandu, Nepal, on Sept. 11. The rise in prices came into effect last week and student organizations say the protest will carry on until the government addresses their demand of relieving the price hike, according to news reports.

     

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