Following high school, Maggie Doyne's travels took her through war-torn Nepal, where she was deeply touched by hundreds of orphaned children. She stopped her travels and began addressing the problem she had seen. BlinkNow.org- Kopila Valley Children's Project
The Problem
After my senior year of high school, as my friends were heading off to college, my parents dropped me off at Newark Airport where I boarded a plane and set off to travel the world. It was just me and my backpack on my first solo trip away from home. Four countries and 20,000 miles later, I was trekking through the Himalayas in war-torn Nepal, where I began to meet hundreds of orphan children. I fell in love with their bright eyes and beautiful smiles, but was shocked to see them barely surviving without the most basic things that I had grown up with as a child. As I shared my dream to build a safe home for these children, with my hometown in Mendham, NJ, I was astounded by the outpouring of support. In January of 2008 I officially opened the front door of Kopila Valley Children's Home, built brick-by-brick, by me and the local community in Nepal. There are now twenty children living in our home. We have been able to enroll sixty children into school, facilitate life-changing operations for children in need, and create a village outreach program to improve schools in remote areas. I truly believe that if every child in the world is provided with their most basic needs and rights—a safe home, medical care, an education, and love, they will grow to be leaders and end cycles of poverty and violence in our world. I have grown and learned more in the past two years than I could have ever imagined and created The BlinkNow Foundation (blinknow.org) to share my ideas with other young people, especially children in the U.S. I believe that in the blink of an eye, we can all make a difference. As young people in this world we are truly limitless! There is so much to do. Please join me—lets “do something,” together! Love from Nepal, Maggie
Why It's Important
Our home is located in a small trading-post city at the foothills of the Himalayas. Most local villagers work as subsistence farmers, small shopkeepers, and laborers. Our home was built FOR and BY the local community. In fact, over 250 members from the community have taken part in construction. Our team included community architects, masons, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, and many local village women who carried the materials and worked to build the actual house itself. When you walk through the front gate at Kopila Valley Children’s Home it doesn't feel like a typical "orphanage." I always stress that this is a "children's home" and it’s important to me that it feels just like any other home of any healthy and loving family anywhere. When I found and met the children who are now living in my home, they were living in desperate conditions. Most of our girls had been sold and were working as domestic servants in other peoples’ homes, or in small roadside hotels. None of our children had been to school, some had been abused, and most lived their lives not knowing when the next meal would come. On top of this they had had to cope with the loss of their parents, siblings, and family members. Some had witnessed war, others only knew a life on the streets. None of the children I accept into our home have parents. Kopila Valley Children’s Home is located in Surkhet, Nepal in the mid-western border region. War, widespread disease and extreme poverty has left an estimated 45,000 orphan children left to fend for themselves in Nepal. Thousands of children are homeless, deprived of education, basic medical care, clean water and healthy food, and are often times sold into child labor. NGOs, (non-government organizations) peace organizations, government officials and resident villagers working in the midwestern border region of Nepal agree that one of the biggest issues facing Nepal is the lack of facilities, education, and medical treatment for destitute children.
The Plan Of Action
Kopila Valley Children's Home has been operating for over one year. There are 25 children living in the home and 60 children have been enrolled into school through our Kopila Outreach Program. We have also provided life changing medical support for 15 children in our local community. Our children have already learned to read and write. Many of our girls will be the first women from their village to become literate. Most of our children will be the first members from their family to attend primary school. In our home we have our own garden where we grow much of our own food for consumption. We also have 8 chickens, 4 goats, and a cow. The children all take part in the running of the household and have gained these practical skills as well. They have even begun to learn to sew their own clothing and cook daily meals. Many of them have seen things like running water, toilets, light switches, soap and shampoo for the first time in their lives. We run an after school tutoring program where by older children from the community come by to help younger children with their school work. At night our house also runs on solar energy. The children are learning what it means to love and care for the environment by composting and hosting village clean-ups in our neighborhood and local park. I have grown and learned more in the past two years than I could have ever imagined and created The BlinkNow Foundation (blinknow.org) to share my ideas with other young people, especially children in the U.S. I believe that in the blink of an eye, we can all make a difference. As young people in this world we are truly limitless!
