8-Year-Old Gives Piggy Bank Savings to Nepal Flood Victims

When Alfaz Sheikh saw videos of people struggling after flash floods tore through Nepal, the eight-year-old knew he had to help.

The Class III student from Bahraich, India, carried his gulak (a small earthen piggy bank) to meet the district magistrate on Thursday. Inside were coins and small bills he'd collected over an entire year, carefully saving money given to him by family members.

Alfaz had one simple request: send it to Nepal exactly as it is. No opening it, no counting it, no bank transfers. Just his piggy bank, traveling all the way across the border to reach people who lost everything.

His grandfather Qasim Ali said the family estimates about 2,000 rupees (around $24 USD) sits inside the clay container. "When I told his father about it, he said that if Alfaz wished to do this, we should find a way to send it to Nepal," Ali explained.

Bahraich shares a border with Nepal, and the district recently received 14 unidentified bodies believed to be flood victims swept down the Gandak River. After conducting postmortems and preserving DNA samples, officials returned the bodies to Nepali authorities.

When officials tried to deliver Alfaz's piggy bank along with the bodies, Nepali authorities asked for the money to be deposited into a bank account instead. But that wasn't what Alfaz wanted.

District Magistrate Mahender Singh Tawar stepped in. He directed his team to reach out to the Nepal Embassy directly, ensuring the gulak reaches Nepal as relief items, exactly as the boy gave it.

"It represents a child's own savings, a small gesture of solidarity from him, and every effort is being made to ensure it reaches the Embassy intact," an official said.

Sunny's Take

Alfaz is the third of four children in his family. His father works in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and his mother Nusrat Parveen cares for the children at home in Betiya village.

When asked why he wanted to help, Alfaz's answer was beautifully simple: "I felt bad watching videos on the mobile. People are suffering in Nepal because of the floods. I told my grandfather I wanted to give my money to the people in trouble, and he said okay, so we gave it."

He didn't need complex explanations about humanitarian aid or disaster relief. He just saw people hurting and wanted to share what he had, even if it meant giving away everything he'd saved for a year.

Sometimes the most powerful acts of kindness come from the smallest hands.