Nepal is home to the Himalayas. For thousands of years, people have traveled to the Himalayas for spiritual enlightenment, claiming that by looking up at the peak, one can be freed from all evil. Today, this tradition is continued by pilgrims from all over the world who travel to Nepal to see its natural beauty and explore its ancient history. But Nepal also has another side. Sites few travelers have ever seen. Impoverished slums and villages have become a common sight in rural areas.
The main task of any government is to solve the problems of the people and find better solutions, but this is not happening in Nepal. The poor are getting poorer, the rich are getting richer, the gap is huge…and the government is not even providing basic infrastructure for these poor people. Without further education, most Nepalis are doomed to a life of manual labor, earning an average of $300 a year.
For decades, Nepal’s leaders have struggled to feed their people. The situation escalated further in the mid-1990s as civil war broke out across the country. What began as a movement for democracy ended in disaster. More than 12,000 people were killed in the conflict.
Many years later, Visma Raj Paudel opened the first of many future projects… an orphanage for children. Wisma refused to give up on her dream and looked for other ways to help the people and children of Nepal. Today, the orphanage houses more than 70 children. No wonder that when Visma first started selecting children for the orphanage, one of the first places he returned to was his childhood village.
To date, the Orphanage has received more than 1,000 applications from communities committed to helping children lead better lives. Not being able to take them all, Visma started a scholarship program. He only supported 200 children through various projects, but there are indeed so many children who are abandoned on the streets and in the countryside, unable to go to school, and forced to work as children.
