10.24.10 *FOUND | BlinkNow.org

When you are out in remote places of the world, you are always surprised to see/meet other foreigners. These are not tourist destinations. While we were sipping warm Cokes (out of glass bottles!) waiting for the news on the arrival of our delayed flight, we noticed another young woman also waiting for news on our return to Kathmandu. "Hi I'm Maggie." "Hey Maggie, what are you doing in Nepalgunj?" "Oh, I run an orphanage in Surkhet." Maggie told us her story and mentioned that she was flying to Amsterdam early the next morning for a conference for a few days. She didn't have a hotel to stay in so I invited her to the guesthouse I had been staying in, a welcoming place that I knew would help her out for the night. Of course Michelle and Prajan the inn owners welcomed us but sadly the inn was full. "Hey wait... I have 2 twins beds in my room, and I am only 1, Maggie just take the other bed." You do this when you are traveling. You make do and you make friends. But you never guess the people you meet will end up being heroes. As was the case with Maggie.

A few days later, I opened up the International Herald Tribune— there was smiling Maggie surrounded by her Nepali kids. Maggie is 23 and Nicholas Kristof wanted the world to know about her story too:

"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. Three years ago, I officially opened the frontdoor of Kopila Valley Children's Home, built brick-by-brick, by me and the local community in Nepal. There are now 35 children living in our home. In the spring of 2010, another one of my dreams came true: Kopila Valley Primary School. Our new school (built out of locally harvested bamboo) is gorgeous and bustling with over 230 children from Surkhet and surrounding regions—many of our students are the first to ever attend school in their families. Beyond education the students are provided health care and a daily nutritious meal. I am fortunate to work with and amongst some of the finest people I have ever known: 23 Nepali faculty and staff who make-up the Kopila team. The children are thriving. 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 these past years than I could have ever imagined and created The BlinkNow Foundation 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. We are all truly limitless!"

To read more about Maggie's organization BlinkNow.org, please visit www.blinknow.org.
To read the full New York Times story, visit: www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/10/24/magazine/nepal-aid.html
After meeting people like Maggie out in the field, you think to yourself, okay faith can indeed move mountains and the world is going to be okay. You inspire me sister! Beauty found.