My Adventures on the Other Side of the World...: February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone! I’m sad that I don’t get to spend the day with my valentine (miss you, Mike!), but I hope that everyone else is able to surround themselves with the ones they love…

We were able to get in the Valentine’s Day spirit a bit this evening. After work, we went over to the K house, a youth house that was started by Olga, who I met on my first full day here in Nepal. She first came to Nepal to go trekking about 25 years ago, and fell in love with Nepal and its children. She then founded Nepal Youth Foundation (http://nepalyouthfoundation.org/), a non-profit organization to benefit homeless and disadvantaged youth within Nepal. From the foundation, she has started two youth houses – K House and J House, founded in 1992 and 1995, respectively. K House is for girls, and J House is for boys. Each house is able to provide a loving, warm, and safe home for up to 30 children. Many of the children in the J and K houses were either abandoned or orphaned at a young age, and have had to endure more pain and suffering than we can even imagine. K and J house provide them with the first real home they have ever known. It is such a wonderful opportunity for these children!

When I first walked in to the K House, I was overwhelmed by the smiles and positive attitudes of all of the children. They were so excited to see us and couldn’t stop talking and asking questions. I literally think I had four or five different girls talking to me at any given time! You should have seen how they brightened even more, however, when “Olga-mom” walked in the door. You can tell that she means the world to them! Most of the children had never celebrated holidays before moving in to the K House, so Olga makes an effort to celebrate all holidays with them, including Valentine’s Day!

She brought over a cake and bright red balloons to help them celebrate the holiday today. It was so much fun watching them play, sing, and dance for us!