Growing up in Nepal, Ritam Bhattarai loved the mountains, family gatherings and festival celebrations with her cousins. Now, following the devastating flash floods, it’s also the backdrop to her grief as her homeland mourns and her New Zealand friend Dejan Kuzmic remains missing.
“You just can’t believe it,” says Ritam, 33.
“You don’t want to believe it. You’re holding on to hope for good news…”
Dejan had completed a spiritual pilgrimage to Mt Kailash and was at the Gyirong Customs building on the Nepal-China border with his tour group minutes before the floods swept through and completely destroyed it.
Just days earlier, Ritam had been excitedly reading messages from him on their yoga group chat.
“It was like we were there with him,” she says with a smile.
More than a tourist
Dejan had also recently spent time with her retired tour guide father Diwakar, who showed him around their hometown of Kathmandu. Very quickly, he realised Dejan was no ordinary tourist.
“My dad said to me, ‘This one is serious,’” says Ritam.
“He could tell Dejan wasn’t experiencing Nepal as a regular tourist. He was genuinely interested in understanding the essence of Eastern spirituality.”
Ritam moved to New Zealand from Nepal 10 years ago and first met Dejan in 2024, when she joined Auckland’s yoga community at Mind Body Soul Enlightenment Centre.
“Dejan had a real warmth about him and made an effort to include me, and help me feel at ease,” she recalls.
“That reflected who he was.”
A bond built in silence
The pair quickly became close friends and would often “tease each other, bicker, pull each other’s leg and just be silly”.
But beneath the joking, their friendship was built around something deeper. Both were committed to their spiritual practice and some of their most meaningful moments were spent meditating together.
“Some people bond over coffee or going out, but much of our bonding happened sitting in silence,” shares Ritam.
“That is how I will remember him – someone I could laugh with, but also someone deeply committed to his spiritual practice, who encouraged me to reflect more deeply on my own path. “Dejan spoke about coming to New Zealand as a child after his family fled war in Eastern Europe, and about how those experiences and the struggles his family went through had shaped him. “What stayed with me was how he used those difficult experiences as an opportunity to work on and transform himself, rather than allowing them to define him.”
Ritam, who organised a memorial service for her friend in Auckland, says he had long dreamed of going to Nepal.
“Being able to make this journey was one of the highlights of his life.”
A country in mourning
It’s believed the late-August floods were triggered when part of a glacier high in the Himalayas near the Nepal-Tibet border collapsed, causing widespread flash floods and landslides.
At the time, Ritam was thousands of kilometres away in Bangladesh, working in a refugee camp as World Vision New Zealand’s country programme manager. As reports of the tragedy emerged, her thoughts immediately turned to Dejan and her loved ones who still live in Nepal.
“In a month’s time, we will celebrate Dussehra, one of Nepal’s biggest festivals,” says Ritam.
“It is normally a time of joy and celebration, but the country is in a state of mourning.”
A race against winter
Winter is also approaching – October to February are the coldest months – adding urgency to the situation.
“Children are particularly vulnerable,” explains Ritam.
“Many schools have been damaged or destroyed by the floods, leaving many without a safe place to learn and recover.”
Education is a cause close to Ritam’s heart and one that, in part, inspired her to leave home and move across the world a decade ago.
“I was young and curious, and I wanted to experience a world beyond what I had always known.”
Keeping Nepal close
In New Zealand, she completed a postgraduate degree in international studies and worked with charitable organisations, eventually joining World Vision NZ in 2022.
While Aotearoa is now her home, she travels back to Nepal most years and it will always have her heart. Ritam has a message to fellow Kiwis: “The Nepalese people are very resilient and are incredibly grateful for the support that has already been provided by generous New Zealanders. But they need continued support so they can rebuild for the future.”
To help children and families in Nepal with food, emergency shelter and other urgent essentials, visit worldvision.org.nz/Nepal-floods
