An Orphanage in Nepal In January 1992 Jim Thompson was a guest speaker at the new Rotary Club of Guelph Trillium in Ontario, Canada – a club he later joined. Jim shared his experiences in Nepal. As their first international service project, the club took a leap of faith – to build an orphanage for the children of Nepal. It was a great project that grew from exciting Rotary partnerships... matching grants from the Rotary Foundation for equipment and services and another from the Canadian Rotary Committee for International Development, for the physical building itself. The Rotary Club of Kathmandu Midtown became a local partner and helped extensively with this project’s implementation. The Rotary Club of Guelph added a multi-purpose community hall to this project and even more local donors in Nepal added to the project. On October 3, 1995 the final payment was wired to Nepal to complete the project. The result is a building complex that houses 70 children with a hall used by both the children and the local community. A number of elderly people who had been homeless now live in the shelter and security of the facility. The complex also has a modest dairy operation aimed at helping the orphanage become self sufficient and a large garden which produces enough food for the children and to earn income at the local market. Then Came Opportunity Village Throughout the process of building the orphanage, Jim Thompson frequently traveled to Nepal to oversee the various phases of the project on behalf of his Rotary Club and other Rotary partners. During these trips Jim became aware of another group of children; older girls, alone and living in poverty. These girls were not doing very well. The local economy offered work to boys as unskilled laborers but not girls.  Many toiled in sweat shops for slave wages or even worse, were swallowed up as child prostitutes.

A partnership between five Rotary Clubs in Canada and two in Nepal helped create Opportunity Village, ahome for these fragile girls. With additional help from the Roman Catholic Church, approximately 4.5 acres of land was purchased and the money was raised to build a home and training centre for these kids. Currently the first three buildings on this site are being completed, a vehicle has been purchased and funds to care for the first of these girls is in place. Like the orphanage in Biratnagar, a farming operation harvests rice and vegetables and a small herd of water buffalo provides milk. The Challenge Remains: Street Children in India Throughout South Asia, profound poverty continues to force children to live on the streets. With parents lost to death or abandonment these children simply survive as best they can. Although a number of organizations are doing their best to help these children, funding constraints are limiting their capacity to help. In India, as in Nepal, the children most at risk are the girls. In 2001, with the help of a local camera crew in the City of Chennai Madras, Dr. Thompson captured the story of some of these children. This video speaks of the opportunity for Rotary to make a profound difference in the lives of children ... to help rescue more children from the streets and provide the staples of life – safety, shelter, food, basic schooling, and some fundamental stability as they struggle to grow up. Jim has recruited some local Rotary Clubs in Chennai Madras as partners in helping the street children. But the support of Rotarians is desperately needed.