By Olga Murray | Founder, Nepal Youth Foundation
I often talk about all the extraordinary children we serve. I’ve often described their harrowing lives before they came to us – heartrending stories of neglect and abuse.
What I haven’t talked about often enough is how they’ve turned out and how utterly satisfying it is to witness their transformation from homeless waifs to confident and successful young adults.
Long after they have grown up and forged their own paths in the world, they come visit me in Katmandu to talk about their lives and introduce me to their spouses and children. As I sit in my garden chatting away with these capable, self-reliant young adults, I think back to the time they first came into my life and I am filled with gratitude and awe at what these kids have become.
When Choodamani was a boy he burned his foot and became partially disabled. His social worker wrote to us explaining that his school was far away, across a river – too far for the boy to limp there on his own. The letter quoted 12-year-old Choodamani saying he wanted to be “the Charles Darwin of Nepal.” So we brought this ambitious young boy to start a new life at J House, our home for boys, where school would be easily accessible and he would be well-cared for.
Choodamani eventually became our very first J House graduate, and we’re as proud as any family would be. After high school, he got a job in a hospital as a physical therapist while he took classes at college. He eventually became a leader in Nepal’s emerging disability rights movement, and served on Nepal’s National Federation of the Disabled.
Our Disabled Scholarship fund has helped hundreds of deaf, blind and physically disabled children students get an education and learn the skills necessary to live full, productive lives.
Often treated as discards in Nepal's caste society, we send the children to special schools which are set up to care for them physically and academically. Our students thrive. Last year, we welcomed 49 new students into our program, caring for a total of 110 students in preschool through high school.
Your dollars go far in Nepal. Thank you for your generous contributions to our project to Provide Education to 20 Disabled Children. This program’s accomplishments would not be possible without the support of people like you.
Namaste!
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By Jacqueline Frost | Development and Communications Manager
By Jacqueline Frost | Development and Communications Manager
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