Little Princes

I have a cool story for you this morning , kids. I am reading a book about a remarkable young man who, at twenty-nine, set off to travel around the world. He began his year-long trip by volunteering for three months at the Little Princes Children's Home, an orphanage in Nepal.

The book is Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal, by Conor Grennan. He fell in love with the rambunctious, resilient children in his care, and was appalled to learn their stories.

These children had been trafficked by an unsavory character, who took them, (and countless others who will never be found), from their remote mountain villages, worked and half-starved them, and then abandoned them on the streets of Kathmandu.

The children he writes about were rescued and cared for by volunteers trained and sent in by a nongovernmental agency, CERV Nepal.  The Little Princes home was founded by a young French woman.

As Conor falls in love with the children and learns the plight of thousands of children in Nepal (and many other countries), he vows to do three things: first, to return to the Little Princes in one year, second, to found another home in Kathmandu, and third to find as many parents as possible and hopefully reunite them with their lost children.

The beauty of all this is, he accomplished it all, kept his promise to the children, (and to himself) and found he had had an undiscovered hero living inside him, all unknown. He eventually built another orphanage near the children's home village, near their parents. Joy all around, kids, in this weary old often heart-breaking world.

I so love stories like these. They give me hope. And they show what one person, who cares and tries to do something, can accomplish, when he has no choice but to be the person he knows he is capable of being, though it would be far easier to take the less arduous path.

Men of darkness

traffick children

from remote villages

in the mountains

of Nepal.

They work them

and half-starve them,

then abandon them

on the streets

of Kathmandu.

Good people rescue

as many as they can,

bring them to safe houses

where they are fed and loved

and sent to school.

They watch their sad eyes

slowly learn

to smile again.

They watch their hearts

turn once again

towards hope,

their rich and joyous

love of life

return.

They hear their laughter

rise again

above the rooftops,

these little princes

of Nepal,

these children

of the inner light.

You can find out more about Conor's organization at http://www.nextgenerationnepal.org/
Proceeds from his book go to maintaining the children's home his organization, Next Generation Nepal, built in Humla, the children's home village, where they now live, near their families. Good work, Conor!!!!