Next Generation Nepal: March Update

By Kate | Permalink | No Comments | April 6th, 2007 | Trackback

I was recently happy to receive the March 2007 newsletter for Next Generation Nepal (NGN), the non-profit organization associated with the Dhaulagiri home for trafficked children in Kathmandu who are temporarily separated from their families.

NGN founder Conor describes finding the mothers of two more of the children currently staying at Dhaulagiri; both mothers had lost their husbands and were doing hard physical labor for minimal pay, essentially living in extreme poverty just outside Kathmandu.

He also describes the rather heart-wrenching reality of the situation and the resulting moral question NGN faces: parents are of course overjoyed to see their children again and glad they are being well-taken care of at NGN…so glad in fact, and so desperate about their own situation, that they often want the children to stay there. The challenge for NGN, which it seems to be meeting with the dedication of Conor and co-founder Farid, is 1) to provide immediate care – food, shelter, education and so on - for the children, and 2) to reunite them with their families in the long run.

This involves first finding the family, then ensuring the parent(s) are in a position to support their children (with appropriate housing, income, etc.), and also networking and doing advocacy work. Neither Conor nor co-founder Farid has taken a salary for their work since the founding of NGN, and because they were able to cover the initial start-up costs presumably more quickly than expected, the projected direct annual cost of caring for one child for a year has been lowered from $1000 to $750.

On Conor’s blog, he also describes the care NGN takes to lessen the transition the children will face when they return to their families. Clothes are repaired as opposed to replaced, candy intake is limited – (though Conor does mention in another post that he personally would not mind some Double Stuffed Oreos) – and even TV time is relatively restricted so the kids won’t have problems living without it when they return to their families.

You can visit the main Next Generation Nepal site to find out more about the organization or to make a donation; check out How Conor Is Spending All His Money to get Conor’s unique take on day to day events with the kids and to sign up to receive the newsletter yourself.

Home » News

If you found "Next Generation Nepal: March Update" useful or interesting, please share it with others by bookmarking it at any of the following sites: