By Conor Grennan
This falls squarely into the "couldn't put it down" category.
This guy volunteered at an orphanage in Nepal and learned that most of the children there weren't orphans at all. Apparently, there was a lot of child trafficking happening in Nepal during the civil war of the late 90s and early 2000s - fearing that their children would be recruited into the insurgents' army, poor rural parents paid people huge amounts of money to take their children out of danger and into the city, where they would be safe. Sadly, many of these children were dumped off and left homeless in Kathmandu, or sold as servants. Some were told their parents were dead, killed in the war.
When Conor Grennan discovered this sad truth, he made it his mission to find the parents of the "orphans" and give the families a chance to reunite. His story is fascinating and terrifying - hiking through the Himalayas to remote villages where nobody speaks his language and the answer to "where is the toilet" is "no", finding himself waylaid by armed insurgents demanding to know why he's there, and fighting against a powerful ring of child-traffickers in a country where the government has little power to help him.
As sad as parts of this book are, it's an inspirational and uplifting story about a man who finds his purpose in life and dozens of amazing kids who are getting their families back. He writes well, and his book is a smooth, funny, exciting story that reads almost like a blog. You're a friend and he's telling you about these awesome things he's done.
If you're interested in his story and his cause and want to learn more, his website and nonprofit organization is Next Generation Nepal. Check it out.
This guy volunteered at an orphanage in Nepal and learned that most of the children there weren't orphans at all. Apparently, there was a lot of child trafficking happening in Nepal during the civil war of the late 90s and early 2000s - fearing that their children would be recruited into the insurgents' army, poor rural parents paid people huge amounts of money to take their children out of danger and into the city, where they would be safe. Sadly, many of these children were dumped off and left homeless in Kathmandu, or sold as servants. Some were told their parents were dead, killed in the war.
When Conor Grennan discovered this sad truth, he made it his mission to find the parents of the "orphans" and give the families a chance to reunite. His story is fascinating and terrifying - hiking through the Himalayas to remote villages where nobody speaks his language and the answer to "where is the toilet" is "no", finding himself waylaid by armed insurgents demanding to know why he's there, and fighting against a powerful ring of child-traffickers in a country where the government has little power to help him.
As sad as parts of this book are, it's an inspirational and uplifting story about a man who finds his purpose in life and dozens of amazing kids who are getting their families back. He writes well, and his book is a smooth, funny, exciting story that reads almost like a blog. You're a friend and he's telling you about these awesome things he's done.
If you're interested in his story and his cause and want to learn more, his website and nonprofit organization is Next Generation Nepal. Check it out.
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