It's early morning. I wake in my bed in Kinley’s house at the hostel. I hear the bird song starting with the rising sun. A rooster crows nearby. I hear someone rustling on the patio, feeding the incense burner with juniper and soon the divine fragrance is wafting in my window. It's chilly and I burrow deeper into my thick blanket. The morning is foggy.

Kinley begins chanting his prayers in the prayer room on the roof above me. It's a soothing rhythm and I am tempted to go back to sleep. But I throw back the covers, pull on a sweatshirt over my pjs, slip my feet into flip flops and head for the kitchen. One of the women who work in the house is already up making tea. Kinley and his wife have taken in a couple of destitute women to live with the family. Their kids go to school and live here and help out. One has become my friend. She speaks no English but she always hugs me and has the sweetest smile in the world.

Well, the teachers meeting went pretty well. At least they seemed interested and I got many nods of agreement and smiles, but who really knows? Anyway, I did my best. I had just read a great article in the New York Times about a moral life and it was so apt that I shared many thoughts from that. The author talked about resume virtues vs eulogy virtues. The eulogy virtues being the ones we all hope will be talked about at our funeral. Let's cultivate those deep values and strengths of character in the children! So important in this money crazy era we are living in.

So, the days are moving way too fast. There is still so much to do but things move so slowly here. I spend a lot of time waiting for people. It definitely cultivated patience! And Nepalis are very social, so to connect and establish trust and confidence means drinking many cups of tea and making small talk for quite a while before it's possible or effective to dig in and get to the matter at hand. Many days I find it very exhausting. It takes a lot of psychic energy to spend my days trying to communicate, often with people who don't speak English or with kids who are very shy. It takes patience and sensitivity. So maybe I am painfully cultivating some eulogy virtues. Ha ha!

It is Nepali New Year, so the morning is unusually quiet while families stay at home together, relaxing, telephoning friends and relatives ( I could not call out, the lines are all jammed). After a busy few days of meetings with kids and school administrators, I have a little space to do some chores.

Here in Nepal it takes quite a bit of time and energy just to keep myself functional. Wash some clothes by hand, make sure to charge all my devices when the power is on ( it goes out for two long periods daily, on a changing schedule that I need to keep track of), walk down to the stupa and get some cash from the ATM (if it's working), write emails and make phone calls to try to organize various meetings (for which the people may or may not show up), wash my hair if there is enough hot water. And answer a ton of Happy New Year texts from the older kids. They love to text me. I get a number of early morning "Gd morning DD. Have u had yr breakfast?" and "Namaste dedi, did u drinktea?" "Did u have a gd sleep"

I can barely see so I hold out my arms to brush the walls of this dark corridor, giving me a minimal sense of balance and comfort. I follow the voice of the boy's Father. A dim bulb is switched on ahead and I turn into their small room, grateful for the light. Father graciously urges me to sit. The only option is on one of the two beds that sit knee to knee and take up almost the entire room. This is home to four people: the students Bidek and Bisho and their parents, both of whom work at poorly paid labor jobs. They are fortunate to have work…

Morning at the hostel. I wake early in the little hobbit hut I am sleeping in and lay with eyes closed listening to the bird voices spiraling up into the cool morning air. I hear village sounds drifting up from down valley...cows and faint voices. Now I start to hear banging doors and the slap of too-big plastic flip flops as the kids start to move around and start their day. I watch the golden light spread across the millet fields and the half-harvested potato patches on the hillsides. Soon the redolent smell of burning juniper reaches my small window. Kinley, the school Principal is making his morning offering in the incense burner on his stone patio.

The days are flying by, each so filled with myriad details and tasks to be completed before I leave for home. I've been just too too tired at the end of each day to write, despite the fact that I am always collecting moments and images in my mind, searching for the right words to describe to you what it is like to be working here with the children. To share my experiences.

One word jumps into my mind right now: complex. There are no easy answers to the challenges that the kids face in both their personal and academic lives. There are so many factors to consider: culture first and foremost, individual personalities and circumstances, a rigid educational system, personal strengths (and weaknesses) and a society beset by growing pains, inflation, pollution, poverty, urban congestion, graft and extreme political lethargy. Add to this poor or nonexistent family involvement or support.

Yesterday was Parents Day at Pegasus school, one of the schools we work with in the Boudhanath area of Kathmandu. Our sponsored kids comprise maybe 20% of the total student body. Its a big school and I had no idea what an undertaking this event would be. Kinley, the Principal was busy with details for weeks ahead of time. He has not held a Parents Day for a few years because it is a time consuming ( an understatement) and expensive affair. However, after yesterday, I appreciate why it is a wonderful thing to do.

The children had a great time. Running, playing, eating snacks, performing dances and songs and skits for the audience ( and parents, if they had any) hooting and hollering boisterously for the performances of friends and classmates and generally having an all-day party. On top of that it was a time for the Principal to shower the students with appreciation, inspiration and awards for their commitment to their education, and to honor the parents support of education for their child.

by Kristin Ruether

I found myself headed to Nepal with some free time. I’d only been a Shanti sponsor for six months, but getting the first letter from “my” sponsored child made a big impression on me, and I wanted to learn more about the school and the kids. I inquired about a visit, and Pam and the principal of Pegasus School were both extremely friendly and said I was welcome to stay at the Pegasus hostel for a few days.

So on a chilly day in January, I picked my way through the chaotic streets and terrifying traffic of Kathmandu to the Pegasus School, just a few minutes’ walk from the famous Boudhanath Buddhist temple.

There is a kind of magic to the holiday season. People are kinder, more generous. The world seems bathed in peace..the kind we wish we had every day. Can we take this warm hearted feeling and do something truly magical with it this year?

A small girl in a tiny village in the foothills of the Himalayas dreams that one day she might go to school... and that maybe she can then become a teacher or run a little store. But her family is too poor and there is no money to spend on a child’s education. But we can change that! And it takes so little. This holiday season you can help make dreams come true and change a life.

Why do I love this photo so much? There is such simple joy in this picture. Somehow I think it reminds me of the carefree joy of my own childhood… the wonderful excitement of each day, when everything is possible, one creates their world and there is nothing important but the present moment. The children of Shanti remind me of these important life options all the time. What comes so naturally to a child takes a little practice in my adult life, but the kids remind me.

I guess this is also why it feels so important to support the kids whose childhood is not so easy. In Nepal so many are challenged in ways that even we as adults would find hard to bear.

This morning all the hostel kids are taking their Math exam here (rather than take the school bus down to school). They had their morning assembly on the rough basketball court, sang and said their prayer. There was a little meltdown when Salina was carried from the exam room by one of the older boys, crying and sobbing. I asked what was going on. I was afraid she'd fallen and hurt herself. He said she wanted to "take the exam" with her older sister (Salina is in JKG or junior kindergarten..so she was not taking a Math exam). She wanted to take part but had been distracting and disturbing her sister, so they were taking her out of the classroom, to her great distress. I went into the girls dormitory room and sat with her on the floor while she sobbed and sobbed as if her heart would break. I don't know if it was frustration that she is not old enough to be included in this very fascinating event or if it was sorrow at being separated from her sister. They are new here and it must be hard to be in the hostel at such a young age.I've seen this before in very small children who come from the village to board. They often have this same disheveled, unhealthy look...slow to smile and very scruffy. A year on the transformation in those same kids is amazing: a healthy glow, neat, clean clothes and they are happy!

Dear friends, here is a little transcription for you from my recent trip to Nepal to see our Shanti kids. I hope you'll enjoy it..and get a bit of the flavor of this project.

Today I met with our sponsored children at the Pegasus hostel which is on a hillside about 15 minutes from Boudhanath. Also included are about 20 newly sponsored kids that I am meeting in person for the first time. We gathered in a dusty, empty classroom with the kids all crowded curiously around me. One by one I call out the kids' names and then talk with that child about his/her sponsor(s), telling them something about where the sponsor lives and a little about that place, what they do, any hobbies they may have (if I know), family etc etc. All the kids listen rapt to every single child's sponsor-info. Every now and then, someone who simply can't wait any longer would pipe up and yell out from the press of the crowd, "What about MY sponsor?"

We are relational beings. It is how we are made. For me, this Irish proverb says it eloquently: “It is in the shelter of each other that people live”.

We live in a world that is challenging, often confusing and frequently heartbreaking. It can seem that there are so many problems; from war to the quality of the air we breathe, that it can all be overwhelming. We ask ourselves, what can we do? How can we solve these seemingly insurmountable problems?

It’s that time of year again. The Christmas lights are twinkling, carols resound and the spirit of the holidays is upon us. Are you feeling joyful and uplifted or stressed and overwhelmed? Our holidays seem to be more and more about the pressures of shopping, traffic and too-much-to-do. Can we find an antidote? Can we regain the warmth and the feeling of community and connection that we hope for at this time of year?

The Dalai Lama says that the way to cure any stress or unhappiness is to forget out personal dramas and take some time to think of others . What better time than now? And what better way to uplift our spirits than to help someone who is truly in need?

I came across this quote today on a friend’s blog and it spoke to me:

“Love alone can transform insanity, confusion, and strife. No system, no theory of the left or of the right can bring peace and happiness to man. Where there is love, there is no possessiveness, no envy; there is mercy and compassion, not in theory, but actually for your wife and for your children, for your neighbor . . . . Love alone can bring about mercy and beauty, order and peace. There is love with it’s blessing..” ~ J. Krishnamurti from The Book of Life

In the news we daily watch examples of religious and ethnic strife. Our human family is struggling with differences...often seeing those who are different than oneself as a threat; something to be feared and protected against.

It occurred to me recently that Shanti Children’s Foundation represents a rainbow coalition! Our children are Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim. Our sponsors are Jewish and Christian. And we have come together with a common goal: education. Compassion and kindness have bridged any differences. Background, religion, location, ethnicity, culture, age, income...none of these factors seem to matter. What gleams brightly is the desire to connect. The children write to their sponsors, eager to know about their lives and world. Sponsors are curious about Nepal and Kashmir, what life is like for their sponsored child.

The morning after I sent out a message looking for a sponsor for Esha, I opened my email to find my inbox literally overflowing with responses to her story. My first thought was “Oh no!..they all want to sponsor her! What do I do now?” I never expected such an outpouring of generosity. But as the day wore on and I emailed back and forth or conversed by phone with so many people, I was moved and amazed by the floodgate of compassion that had opened.

Lately I have been thinking about Shanti and what is our unique place in the world of compassionate giving. What comes to me over and over is the connectedness that seems to run through the fabric of this small organization. And I reflect on the primal need we all have as human beings to feel this connection, heart to heart; that this is indeed what Life is about.

A kindhearted person offers to sponsor a child’s education. This is a child they have never seen, who lives on the other side of the world in a culture that in some ways is as foreign and mysterious as the moon. Where is the understanding? How does one connect despite the challenges of very different life experience and world view? Through the heart.

What a wonderful year it has been for Shanti Children’s Foundation. There is so much to be thankful for. In 2010 we applied for and were granted our 501c3 status (in record time, no less). This is a huge step and thanks go to many people who helped make this happen. We also designed and wrote this website & got it up and running, with input from many friends and tweaked and debugged with the help of generous volunteer Martyn Webber. Board member Richard Grimlund almost has our accounting system designed. Way to go, Richard. I am deeply grateful. And we have had fundraising support from many quarters which affirms that our mission touches people’s hearts. Thank-you one and all.

Today is election day. On the one hand I am disheartened by the seemingly endless and intensifying polarity in thinking in our culture. I am also all too aware of the political struggles in Nepal and most recently, in Kashmir where the fighting is literal and people are struggling to survive with no work, constant curfews, constant tension. It’s easy to feel worried.

On the other hand, three people have recently become new sponsors of children they have never met. These people have opened their hearts to reach out and lend support and encouragement; sending a child to school. This fills me with hope and pride.