Ally's story

If you had of asked me six months ago “Would you like to go to Nepal?” I probably would have said, ”Where’s Nepal? That is how little I knew about the country I have just spent two weeks in.

I wouldn’t have believed that during my Easter holidays of 2011, I would meet 21 young girls who would completely change my life. I wouldn’t have believed that I would find myself in Kathmandu in the middle of a Political Strike with Protestors on the street chanting in a foreign language and waving signs that I had no idea of what they said.

I wouldn’t have believed that I would be riding & swimming with elephants in Chitwan or paddling a dugout canoe in crocodile infested waters & white water rafting with total strangers.

I wouldn’t have believed that I could go without meat for 2 weeks & spend 2 full days scrubbing walls & painting a Nepalese Orphanage for 21 girls I have never met or that I would have happily spent another 2 weeks helping them in any way that I could.

I wouldn’t have believed that the gift of a rubber handball could bring so much happiness or that a little black & white dress with a picture of a Giraffe on it could give so much joy or that a 6 year old little girl could carry 18 books to school each day & study so much harder than even I study.

I wouldn’t have believed that even in an orphanage in Nepal on the other side of the world so far away that a little 6 year old girl’s favourite colour is still pink and that nail polish & make up still look very pretty.

I wouldn’t have believed that a sixteen year old Nepalese girl in an orphanage with no parents to guide or close family to encourage or close knit country community like Armidale to support could aspire to be a Hotel Manager or a dancer on TV.

I wouldn’t have believed that having electricity supplied to your house for 5 hours of the day was a luxury or that clean water from a tap in your house was special or that road rules were actually a very good and safe thing and that tarred roads were good and that companies that delivered your white goods were so much better than transporting them yourself.

There are so many things that I wouldn’t have believed unless I had agreed to step out of my very comfortable comfort zone & experience just a tiny bit of what life is like for an orphan child in Nepal.

All of these things happened to me last holidays and until then I wouldn’t have believed any of it was possible.

When I heard about The Forgetmenot Children’s Home in early January this year I was amazed at the great work being done by Australians for children in Nepal. There is so much to be done yet so little helps so much!

What a fantastic gift to be given the opportunity to go to Nepal & meet some beautiful young girls striving to live, to succeed & to have a great life.

Thank you to each of you who helped me on my journey, your support has done so much more than I had ever imagined possible. The difference we have made together is amazing and appreciated by these beautiful young girls so far away.

Thank you so much for your support. You have no idea how much this support means to these young girls.

I hope you enjoy the photos I have attached and the stories I have told you.

Thank you again and Namaste!

Ally Hawthorne