Youth Venture

September 10, 2007 - 7:04pm — magdoyne

The next big change

My venture idea is to create a children's hostel for orphans in Nepal. This is a project I have been working on for the past few monthes. I visted Nepal for the first time about a year ago after the first major settlement between the Maoists radical group and the government. Up until that point there had been an on-going war in Nepal for ten years. Before my trip to Nepal I had been living and volunteering in an orphanage in India. Nepali children and refugees were flooding into our project and I began closely following the news and settlements taking place. I had heard that the situation in Nepal was bad but when I finally saw the country's conditions with my own eyes I was horrified. Temples had been burned, schools and homes had been ransacked and destroyed. But aid organizations, the U.N., government officials and residents agreed that the main victims of the war had clearly been the children. There were an estimated 50,000 orphans and street children following the war. Walking down the streets I saw children working in shops and factories as laborers, or on the streets working as human mules and child porters. Sadly enough young girls are the main victims in the sex trade to India, thousands being sold into brothels and transported across the border each month. In the remote villages, schools do not exist and where they do, most children cannot attend them as they are forced to work in the fields or in the home. Due to the war, many children were conscripted as child soldiers and to this day are still misplaced from their homes. The majority of Nepalese agree that one of the main issues Nepal faces at the time, is the lack of rehabilitation facilities and reintegration of these children into society.

My plan is to create a home for children to provide their most basic needs, shelter, food, clothing, and an education. I also plan to create an outreach, vocational training, and rehabilitation program for child laborers and ex-child military recruits to be sure they are off the streets, in school, and preparing to be as self-sufficient as possible. I began construction of the orphanage just a month ago and have returned home to the U.S. to raise funds and awareness for my project in Nepal. I plan to return this October and begin taking in my first children this January! Thanks for the opportunity to express myself in this Next Big Change blog! GO Youth Venture!