Little Princes by Conor Grennan
Summary:
One Person Can Make a Difference In search of adventure, twenty-nine-year-old Conor Grennan traded his day job for a year-long trip around the globe, a journey that began with a three-month stint volunteering at the Little Princes Children's Home, an orphanage in war-torn Nepal. Conor was initially reluctant to volunteer, unsure whether he had the proper skill, or enough passion, to get involved in a developing country in the middle of a civil war. But he was soon overcome by the herd of rambunctious, resilient children who would challenge and reward him in a way that he had never imagined. When Conor learned the unthinkable truth about their situation, he was stunned: The children were not orphans at all. Child traffickers were promising families in remote villages to protect their children from the civil war-for a huge fee-by taking them to safety. They would then abandon the children far from home, in the chaos of Nepal's capital, Kathmandu. For Conor, what began as a footloose adventure becomes a commitment to reunite the children he had grown to love with their families, but this would be no small task. He would risk his life on a journey through the legendary mountains of Nepal, facing the dangers of a bloody civil war and a debilitating injury. Waiting for Conor back in Kathmandu, and hopeful he would make it out before being trapped in by snow, was the woman who would eventually become his wife and share his life's work. Little Princes is a true story of families and children, and what one person is capable of when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds. At turns tragic, joyful, and hilarious, Little Princes is a testament to the power of faith and the ability of love to carry us beyond our wildest expectations.
About the Author:
http://www.harpercollins.com/author/microsite/about.aspx?authorid=36296
Author discusses Little Princes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzS9v1TBsbM
Review:
New York Journal of Books:
When I received this book in the mail, having only a tiny blurb to read about it, I made the assumption it was a book about a man who had traveled to Nepal and adopted children internationally after working at the orphanage. I couldn’t have been more wrong. This is instead the story of a man who refused to turn a blind eye when hints surfaced that death certificates had been forged, that government corruption was rampant, and that child slavery was common in Nepal.
Little Princes is the story of what happens when you pursue the truth and passionately seek to solve a complicated social problem in a country with little or no infrastructure and few resources. It is a gorgeous story of love and passion and what happens when you choose to follow a path that you didn’t know existed.
Grennan, from time to time, returned home to the United States to visit family. During one of those visits in 2006, he set up a foundation to protect the children of Nepal. The foundation is a nonprofit called Next Generation Nepal. It has a website for more information or involvement.
While advocating for funding of the nonprofit and making connections, Grennan received an email from a fellow University of Virginia graduate named Liz looking for information about volunteering in an orphanage. Her email correspondence progressed and eventually became a plan to meet when she also comes to India and to work in an orphanage. Without giving the ending away, this story also contains a healthy dose of romance.
In light of the very real discovery of rampant child trafficking in Nepal, there should also be more thought given to the complex situations in many areas of the world where war, poverty, and natural disaster might have bred similar opportunities. There are tens of thousands of children still missing in Nepal.
Grennan’s foundation remains active and continues to reunite children with their families. http://www.nextgenerationnepal.org/
Summary:
One Person Can Make a Difference In search of adventure, twenty-nine-year-old Conor Grennan traded his day job for a year-long trip around the globe, a journey that began with a three-month stint volunteering at the Little Princes Children's Home, an orphanage in war-torn Nepal. Conor was initially reluctant to volunteer, unsure whether he had the proper skill, or enough passion, to get involved in a developing country in the middle of a civil war. But he was soon overcome by the herd of rambunctious, resilient children who would challenge and reward him in a way that he had never imagined. When Conor learned the unthinkable truth about their situation, he was stunned: The children were not orphans at all. Child traffickers were promising families in remote villages to protect their children from the civil war-for a huge fee-by taking them to safety. They would then abandon the children far from home, in the chaos of Nepal's capital, Kathmandu. For Conor, what began as a footloose adventure becomes a commitment to reunite the children he had grown to love with their families, but this would be no small task. He would risk his life on a journey through the legendary mountains of Nepal, facing the dangers of a bloody civil war and a debilitating injury. Waiting for Conor back in Kathmandu, and hopeful he would make it out before being trapped in by snow, was the woman who would eventually become his wife and share his life's work. Little Princes is a true story of families and children, and what one person is capable of when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds. At turns tragic, joyful, and hilarious, Little Princes is a testament to the power of faith and the ability of love to carry us beyond our wildest expectations.
About the Author:
http://www.harpercollins.com/author/microsite/about.aspx?authorid=36296
Author discusses Little Princes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzS9v1TBsbM
Review:
New York Journal of Books:
When I received this book in the mail, having only a tiny blurb to read about it, I made the assumption it was a book about a man who had traveled to Nepal and adopted children internationally after working at the orphanage. I couldn’t have been more wrong. This is instead the story of a man who refused to turn a blind eye when hints surfaced that death certificates had been forged, that government corruption was rampant, and that child slavery was common in Nepal.
Little Princes is the story of what happens when you pursue the truth and passionately seek to solve a complicated social problem in a country with little or no infrastructure and few resources. It is a gorgeous story of love and passion and what happens when you choose to follow a path that you didn’t know existed.
Grennan, from time to time, returned home to the United States to visit family. During one of those visits in 2006, he set up a foundation to protect the children of Nepal. The foundation is a nonprofit called Next Generation Nepal. It has a website for more information or involvement.
While advocating for funding of the nonprofit and making connections, Grennan received an email from a fellow University of Virginia graduate named Liz looking for information about volunteering in an orphanage. Her email correspondence progressed and eventually became a plan to meet when she also comes to India and to work in an orphanage. Without giving the ending away, this story also contains a healthy dose of romance.
In light of the very real discovery of rampant child trafficking in Nepal, there should also be more thought given to the complex situations in many areas of the world where war, poverty, and natural disaster might have bred similar opportunities. There are tens of thousands of children still missing in Nepal.
Grennan’s foundation remains active and continues to reunite children with their families. http://www.nextgenerationnepal.org/
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