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Therapist helps Nepali orphans Staff Reports, Apr 9, 2010
COURTESY PHOTOS
Joanne Moore works with a 13-year-old in a government-run orphanage in Nepal.
Staff Reports
NIANTIC, Conn.—With a desire to make a difference, Joanne Moore of East Lyme, Conn., recently took a trip that confronted her with poverty like she’d never seen before.
Ms. Moore is a chair of the Parish Life Ministry Committee at Niantic Community Church, a federated congregation of the United Methodist and United Church of Christ, and owner of Shoreline Physical Therapy. She traveled in January to the Nepal Orphan’s Home in Kathmandu, along with her niece Anne Zrenda and neighbor Alane Messina.
Her journey was inspired by the story of Michael Hess, founder of the nonprofit orphanage. Mr. Hess became aware of the plight of children in Nepal while trekking in the Himalayas. He adopted five children and began rescuing others from indentured servitude.
Freeing one child at a time, he brought them to his orphanage. There are now four homes. The first four children that he adopted now serve as house parents to 122 children for whom he has bought freedom.
Following 24 hours of audio lecture CDs on Hinduism and Buddhism and a 20-hour flight, Ms. Moore arrived at the Nepal Orphan’s Home. She and her traveling companions paid $650 each for their two-week stay, which included accommodations, a cook, city guide, transportation to and from the airport, and Nepalese language lessons each morning. The money helps to keep the orphanage running.
“Everywhere we went, we were treated like royalty,” says Ms. Moore.
Until 50 years ago Nepal was closed to foreigners; today the country encourages tourism. Still, much of Nepal remains poverty-stricken.
Accommodations at the orphanage consist of a concrete house with no heating, making the 45-degree nightly temperatures a challenge. Ms. Moore and her traveling companions slept in sleeping bags with coats on, atop plywood beds covered by thin mattresses.
Bathrooms offered “squatty potties” and travelers were advised to bring their own toilet paper. There was running water, but it was not clean.
Food consisted of a steady diet of rice, beans and vegetables, much of it with curry and hot peppers.
Ms. Moore, however, wasn’t looking for a spa experience; she wanted to see how she could help others in need. Volunteers come to the Nepal Orphans Home from all over the world, many staying for three to six months, she learned.
The biggest surprise of her trip was the extreme poverty. Government services are non-existent. There are no traffic laws, and no one picks up trash.
In contrast, the orphanage founded by Mr. Hess provides the children with regular schedules and schooling in the English language. The children play sports and are healthy and strong.
That was not the case, however, with the government-run orphanage in the same city. As a physical therapist, Ms. Moore decided to work with five children to help them in some way. During her stay she evaluated the needs of two 4-year-old children and three teenage girls.
She arranged for local craftsmen to create mobility devices that would enable these children with special needs—who crawled around on the ground—to sit upright and get around. Wheelchairs were found for others. Through this effort she was able to alter the life experience of those five children.
While there, she noticed that some of the children were dying, and said she felt badly that she was unable to do more to help them.
“The most rewarding thing about the trip was realizing that one person can make a difference in the world,” said Ms. Moore. “Michael Hess did. You don’t have to do everything, but neither can you do nothing.”
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Ms. Moore, however, wasn’t looking for a spa experience; she wanted to see how she could help others in need. Volunteers come to the Nepal Orphans Home from all over the world, many staying for three to six months, she learned.
