Increadable Journey to Nepal!

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It had been a long time dream of mine to travel to Lhasa and go into the Potala Palace. My husband Maurice and I traveled to Bangkok for a Lions International Convention and I grabbed at the chance to visit Lhasa. But at that time, 2008, Tibet was closed to visitors, so I traveled to Nepal figuring that this might be a little like Tibet. Patti, Greg and I had a wonderful time in Nepal. We took books and school supplies and told our tour guide to find us a school. Every couple of days we would remind him that he needed to find us a school, any school, anywhere!

With only one day left, Raj, our guide did better than find us a school, he took us to a Christian orphanage with about 200 children, ages 6 to 18. Little did I know that my life was about to change. When we arrived at the gates of the Hope House, we were greeted by the smaller children. The scene reminded of a National Geographic experience. The children rushed to us and we were surrounded by happy children. Two children on each hand, a couple holding on to our waist bands and a few more holding on to our shirt tails. They walked and towed us to their church which was empty, but large enough for all of us to be together. They sang and we sang with them, and then we gave them our items and took photos with the children. We were feeling pretty satisfied with ourselves. And then we took out the magic!

For some reason, I had brought several hundred balloons with me. We gave them all a balloon and were mesmerized! It was pandemonium! But the good kind. All of us just stood there and watched as the children played with their balloon. Quite a few children made that balloon screeching noise that kids make by filling the balloon with some air then pulling the top tight and letting out a little air at a time. We all helped them and played with them.

One of the people that escorted us to the school was Amir, the naturalist at the lodge where we were staying. Later that day Amir told me that he wanted to start a balloon revolution! He saw how excited the children were. He wanted to do something for the many children in the area. Not only the children in the orphanage, but children in the nearby village. He told me months later that I had changed his life. TO BE CONTINUED

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Comments

[Juli]

What a trip
Can hardly wait for your next installment! What a trip.

[amira maharjan]

it was great to meet you
dear lani it was so great to meet you at the resort had i not met you i might not be doing what i am recently doing and today 5th oct 2010 one of the other visitor here in the lodge gave me RS 2000 for the library use and they are also from canada but sorry i don't have his name recently. i plan to provide two more students the computer learning scholarship with it.i thank you for all you help.

[Patti]

Balloon Revolution
"Whatever you give, comes back to you tenfold" - never was that more true than in July, 2008 during our trip to Nepal. Out of one afternoon's visit have grown a new library, intercontinental friendships and a spirit of service among young people in Nepal, such as Amir. And yes, the story continues, as Lani, Greg and I expand our plans to be a part of the Balloon Revolution, restoring Hope and Learning through fun for this incredible group of children.

[Juli]

Children, Children, Children
Looks like children are the same the world over!

[sujit]

Destinations in Nepal
To make Nepal Tourism Year 2011 grand successful, give information about the festival and popular destinations please http://www.sujit.net.np