Hamilai Maukachha

"We Have an Opportunity."

Last week, at the Garden of Dreams for another Sweet Spot Discussion, the topic John talked to us about was "Children in Nepal." He told us about the role children play in this culture, most the situations of children in the villages compared to those in the city, the problem of kids on the street, the importance of child psychology, and about Tiny Hands' work with Childrens' Homes. At that point we had been to all the childrens' homes in the area, and were planning on going to the ones in Pokhara and Chitwan when we traveled there the following week. We were familiar with a work, how the system was set up, and the dire importance of such places.

At the end of the discussion, John looked up and told us, "I want to give you an opportunity to become a big part of this work, and that is to, collectively, start a new home." This was an absolute surprise to each of us, as none of us had any idea this would be part of this trip. We had been to almost every home, having seen the importance and difference each one makes on the lives of 10-15 children, and for us to be able to found one ourselves I think took us all a bit off-guard. Nevertheless, the team was extremely excited to hear more about this chance to make a difference.

John proceeded to tell us that to make this happen we would need to: 1) Come up with $3,000 for the start up costs, 2) Find 10 people who would be willing to sponsor a child at $60/month for a minimum of 2 years.

John wanted to be clear that this was something that was not in the making that we would simply assist with, but something they would only start if did our part. In short, if we don't raise the money, they won't start a home. If we raise double what we need, they'll potentially start two homes. It's all on us.

The home will be in Pokhara, Nepal. This is the town the Dream Center will be located in, so to have that future school and ultimately their own Christian community will add so many more opportunities. The parents of the home will be hand selected by John and his selection team, based on commitment, vision, humility, gentleness, faithfulness, and, above-all, love for children. Part of the process will be shadowing current house parents to get a sense of what the life is like, and once selected they will go through extensive training. The children will be brought into the home are children who are orphaned or fully abandoned by their parents, and if they are given a home they are likely to be forced to work at a young age, grow up without an education, and will be denied a loving living environment.

This opportunity means that we can potentially change the lives for as many children as we find sponsors, lives that can be given an environment to thrive and be nourished. We soon figured out that if we halved our eating budget per day (which is more than enough in Nepal) we could come up with a big chunk of the startup cost just among our team. And even though we left for the week in Pokhara and Chitwan shortly after that, by the time we got back, some people on our team had already collectively come up with at least 10 sponsors.

So we sit here now, back in Kathmandu, with a very good start on this goal and we're all extremely excited about it. The conversation about what we'll name it (because we get to name the home!) has come up multiple times, and we've got a few good ideas so far. We also found out we may even be able to meet the candidates for the house parents while we're here! John has sent all of us the average start up costs, broken down, and the costs per kid per month, and we have a formal letter with all the information needed.

We are very sincere about this project, and we would like to extend the invitation to anyone who feels called to be a part of this. Kara has reposted the PayPal Donation Button on to the left, and any donations after this point will be put towards the home costs. If you or anyone you know would like any more information whatsoever, you can email any one of us four. Although we have "potential sponsors," if you feel like sponsoring a child is something you would like to do, just let any of us know, because like I said, if we have enough resources, we could potentially discuss more than one home (and even so, each home actually takes up to 15 children, but 10 is the minimum.) All in all, this is an amazing chance for our team to have something tangible here in Nepal, and we're extremely excited to get his moving as fast as possible.

Thank you all for your support and prayers, because we wouldn't even be here in the first place if it weren't for you.

With Love and Hope,
Mike