At a recent From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable, I talked about the need for less motivation and more inspiration. The former comes from the outside while the later comes from the inside. At the time, I explained how the reading of Greg Mortenson’s book, Three Cups of Tea, had rekindled in me the understanding that one person can make a difference no matter how great the challenge.
This past week I found another book that fueled this inner fire and gave me hope in the midst of all our local, regional and global challenges. The book is Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal, William Morrow, 2010, by Connor Grennan.
In search of adventure, twenty-nine-year-old Conor Grennan traded in his day job for a year-long trip around the world. He started off this journey in November 2004 with a three-month stint as a volunteer at the Little Princes Children’s Home, an orphanage in the village of Godawari in Nepal.
Arriving in the middle of a civil war, Grennan questioned his choice for a volunteer project when he first met the “herd of rambunctious, resilient children.” Still, with time he found a challenging and rewarding pathway for working with all of the young ones. He also discovered an unthinkable truth. The children were not orphans at all. Child traffickers were promising families in remote villages to protect their children form 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.
Thus began a new journey as Conor Grennan became committed to reuniting the children he had grown to love with their families. Facing the dangers of a bloody civil war, the need to launch a non-profit organization called Next Generation Nepal (http://www.nextgenerationnepal.com/), a journey through the mountains of Nepal just before winter’s arrival, and the challenges of not knowing the local or national language, the author pushed onward to keep his promise to help these children reconnect with their parents.
At times tragic, joyful and funny, Little Princes is a testament to the power of faith and the ability to love. It is a beacon of hope in a world of difficulties. It reminds us of the importance of being committed to big ideas. I highly recommend this book for those of you who are seeking inspiration and fresh perspective. It is a joy to read.
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