A Three Month Stint
Twenty-nine year old Conor Grennan decides to leave his day job and travel around the world for a year. He had planned this trip well and saved for the opportunity to be job free for a year. He started his trip with a three month stay volunteering at a Nepalese orphanage - his opportunity to give back before he started his around the world trip of leisure. Upon arrival at the Little Princes Children’s Home, he is charged at and tackled by a group of wide-eyed Nepalese children excited to have a new playmate join them. Immediately, Conor is overwhelmed by their enthusiasm and worries that he has taken on more than he can handle. There is a vulnerability in these children’s willingness to embrace him that, although endearing, unsettles Conor.
As the weeks go on, however, Conor just accepts the enthusiastic love these children have to offer. Along with his fellow volunteers, Farid and Sandra, Conor fills the children’s days with games of cards, soccer scrimmages and school lessons. The three months fly by and Conor has to leave the orphanage for his around the world trip but he vows to come back to Little Princes. He makes good on the promise and the children are as happy to have him back as Conor is to be back at the orphanage. Conor grows attached to the children.
As he becomes more attached to the children, Conor also wants to protect his young charges. Nepal is in the throes of a civil war and the young children are key targets for the Maoists who would like to recruit them into their army. When Conor learns these children have been pawns in the civil war for the entirety of their young lives, he is even more determined to protect them. Conor discovers the children are not really orphans - many of them have parents but were taken from their villages by traffickers who promised their parents that they would protect them during the Civil War by taking them to the safety of the Kathmandu valley. They would collect large sums of money from the parents for this “service” but then just abandon the children. Orphanages like Little Princes would take the children in but they were raised far away from their families without any knowledge that their parents were still alive.
Something Must Be Done
Conor learns the scope of the problem in Nepal is huge and that orphanages like Little Princes are only able to help a small percentage of the vulnerable children. A mission is born - Grennan knows he must do whatever possible to expand the services to children in Nepal. He starts a foundation to help the trafficked children of Nepal. Next Generation Nepal supports a three-pronged approach to helping the children of Nepal. First it rescues these children from the street and places them in transitional homes; second it supports reconnection and reunification by finding parents in remote villages of Nepal to ultimately reunite them with their children in these transitional homes. Lastly, the foundation works on prevention by targeting trafficking at its root causes. All this (and a budding romance!) from a three month stint volunteering before traveling around the world - amazing!
My Thoughts
I devoured this book - I found Conor’s story and especially the stories of the orphans compelling. I enjoyed reading about their daily lives at Little Princes and the many funny moments as they sought to understand each other. There were many heartbreaking moments in the book as the vulnerability and suffering of these children are revealed. But, the book is also one of hope. There is hope in the work of Next Generation Nepal but especially in the humanity of people like those working in these orphanages and their dedication to doing right by these children. This is a book I won’t soon forget!
