A Place to Call Home
Alum creates a haven for orphans and abandoned
children in Nepal
by Lisa Kirk
In June 2003, Cindy Kennedy was traveling on a bus in Nepal when
she read a newspaper article about a 6-year-old girl, Lalita, living
in a prison with her father and his girlfriend. The two adults had
murdered Lalita’s mother. Kennedy (in photo above) had arrived
in Pokhara, Nepal, just 10 days earlier to begin the final stages
of setting up Namaste House, an orphanage for Nepali children.
“I had sat here [in the United States] for years reading the
Internet news and not being able to do anything,” says Kennedy.
“So now that I was there [in Nepal], we had to go
get this girl.”
Kennedy and a Nepali colleague got on another hot, crowded bus the
next day and traveled 13 hours to the prison in Rajbiraj where Lalita
had been living for nine months. For five days, Kennedy patiently
tolerated what she calls “a lot of bureaucracy and hurry-up-and-wait.”
But Lalita ultimately was released. She became the first child to
find a home at Namaste House.
A vision comes alive
Kennedy first visited Nepal in February 2000, with her then 6-year-old
son, Levi, to participate in an internship arranged by California
State University, Chico’s Experiential Education program.
She worked at a refugee camp for Tibetans, but it was a chance visit
to a Nepali orphanage that forever changed her life. “Cold,
dark, and cavernous” is how she describes the place, but most
heartbreaking, Kennedy says, was the lack of a loving atmosphere.
“Starting an orphanage had never crossed my mind before,”
says Kennedy. But that very idea now seemed obvious and urgent.
“It was like getting hit by a bolt of lightning,” she
says. “I felt served with what my purpose in life is.”
Kennedy finished her bachelor’s degree in multicultural and
gender studies in 2001. With the support of a grant from the CSU,
Chico Honors Program, she returned to Nepal to research orphanages.
Back in Chico three months later, Kennedy started the huge amount
of paperwork necessary to start an orphanage in Nepal, including
obtaining nonprofit status and registering with the Nepali government.
She began raising funds, garnering donations from organizations,
businesses, and individuals. She also held a full-time job waiting
tables.
When she returned to Nepal in June 2003, Kennedy began setting up
Namaste (pronounced nah-mah-stay) House in Pokhara, 130
miles west of Kathmandu. She had the good fortune to affordably
lease a beautiful new building that was originally designed to be
a hotel but had never been used. With the invaluable help of Nepali
project manager Visma Paudel, Kennedy hired staff, began furnishing
the home—which has beds for 48 children—and organized
plans for running the orphanage.
In an e-mail Kennedy sent to Namaste House volunteers, she vividly
describes a house becoming a home: “My pockets are full of
measuring tapes, fabric swatches, broken balloons, nails, lists,
crumbled cookies … we hung 91 sets of curtains … we
have 40 full sets of bedding, and day by day, room by room, a cozy
home is materializing.”
Abandoned but not alone
Twenty-seven children, ages 3 to 12, live at Namaste House. Each
child has a unique story, but their stories share a common thread
of hardship: abandonment, neglect, parents dead or imprisoned. Most
were malnourished and suffered from infections, lice, coughs, and
teeth problems. The children have now had medical and dental examinations
and treatment. A homemade “medicine box” hangs in the
kitchen to keep track of the children’s various dosages. Sumitra,
4, recently had surgery on scar tissue from burns on the backs of
her legs; she will now develop normally.
Ful Bahadur is a 12-year-old boy who lived on the streets for several
years. His mother is a drug addict, and his father abandoned him.
Mina, an 11-year-old girl abandoned by her parents, ate bricks so
her three younger siblings could eat rice. The four now live at
Namaste House. Ajabira is a 7-year-old girl who lived in jail with
her parents, who were arrested for trafficking young women. Somir,
8 (in photo with Kennedy), had lived on the streets.
“I don’t know how they survive,” says Kennedy
of the street kids. “They run in packs. They sneak into hotels.
Somir knew a guy who worked at the army barracks and used to sneak
food out and stash it under a rock for him.”
A cause that inspires
Twenty of the children are supported by donors through an individual
sponsorship program. Donations provide support for the children
to attend school. Last November, a benefit dinner and auction in
Chico raised $20,000 for Namaste House. In January, Kennedy became
the first full-time paid executive director. She is now able to
devote herself to the many tasks of running a nonprofit, including
raising funds, writing grant proposals, planning events, and recruiting
and coordinating volunteers. She keeps in daily contact with her
staff of 11, via e-mail and telephone.
In the works are plans for a women’s handicraft program to
provide income for impoverished women, as well as for Namaste House
programs; an outside scholarship program to provide education for
Nepali children who live in loving homes but are financially unable
to attend school; and an on-site health clinic. Kennedy also would
like to implement an internship program for university students.
Namaste is a Nepali expression that means hello and goodbye.
Translated literally it means “the god in me honors the god
in you.” Kennedy believes she has found her life’s purpose
in honoring and sheltering Nepali orphans. Her passion is clear
in this message she sent to friends last summer: “I still
can’t believe this is real, but at 6 am, when I hear 12 sets
of flip-flops racing downstairs for chiya [sweet milk tea],
I know I am in the right place! It is overwhelming when you realize
the impact we have had on the quality of these kids’ lives.
I love them all deeply, and we have more on the way.”
Kennedy also believes her success with Namaste House can inspire.
“I had no idea how to do all of this,” she admits. “It
[creating Namaste House] really speaks to the potential we all have.
We shouldn’t limit ourselves to what we can do.”
Children at Risk in Nepal
Nepal, a tiny nation in the Himalayas, lies between Tibet and India.
Of the country’s 24 million people, 42 percent live below
the poverty line. Of children under age 5, 48 percent are malnourished.
According to a 2003 Child Workers in Nepal report, 5,000 children
live and work on the streets in Nepal. Poverty, disease, and natural
disasters have created thousands of orphans, as have eight years
of civil war between the Nepali government and communist rebels.
Of children ages 5 to 14, 2.6 million (41 percent) work. While most
work in agriculture, a small percentage are involved in some of
the worst forms of child labor, including rag picking—sorting
through garbage and junk piles for items to sell—and sexual
trafficking.
When 8-year-old Somir, a child who had lived on the streets, disappeared
from Namaste House for a month, Cindy Kennedy feared the worst.
“I thought he would end up abducted or sold or dead or a rag
picker,” she remembers. “That’s when I really
realized what a difference we can make in the life of a child.”
But the story has a happy ending. “We found Somir …
and we told him how much we love him,” says Kennedy. “He’s
still with us, and he’s OK.”
To learn more, go to www.namastehouse.org
|
