Nepal, Oct. 15 -- asang Tamang has the kind of smile that stays. If he smiled in a roomful of people, it would be the warmest spot in that room. Seated on a bench in the sign language classroom watching deaf tv, Pasang turns away from the screen and smiles.

After being rescued from Rasuwa in the 26 August flood, he was brought to Bhairabi Secondary School in Bidur where he has been living since. The 13-year-old is among 17,000 children impacted by the flood.

Without parents, Pasang was being brought up by his uncle and aunt. When the disaster struck, their house in Syaule quickly disappeared and his relatives went missing, snatching away the only feeling of home he had ever known.

Pasang was brought to the school with 38 other childre...