I’m currently reading Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grenan.
I found out about this book while researching an idea for a story. I keep a notebook with me and I write down all these ideas that hit me and periodically I will pick one of those ideas and do a google search.
This time – this is the book that came up.
I’m half way through the story and I’m quite enjoying it. This isn’t fiction but rather Conor’s account of his time in Nepal. The story he tells of the Little Princes – children given up by their parents in hopes they will have a better life – is mesmerizing and heart breaking at the same time.
The author does come across as painting a very rosy picture towards his own goals and actions but rather than nit picking this issue (like a few reviewers did when I checked out the book), I’m overlooking it and reading more into the way he paints Nepal – a country hit with unrest and despair, the war the people had to survive and I’m finding a sense of beauty through his words.
The idea of parents paying someone to take their children…it hurts my heart. That they would be in a place where that is necessary, in order to keep them alive and out of the rebel camps. I can’t imagine the pain, the agony of seeing your child taken from you, of knowing they are growing up without you there, of not knowing what happens to them or where they could be.
I’m glad I picked up this book. I have no idea where it will lead me in regards to writing a story, but for now – my heart is touched and I hope you’ll consider picking it up too. The kindle version is quite costly but I believe sales of this book is being used by Next Generation Nepal – an organization the author created – to help save the children of Nepal – so I’m okay with paying what I did if it means I’m helping.
