In the war-torn country of Nepal, Conor Grennan goes expecting to do a year of noble volunteering to pump up his resume and return home with some great stories. Instead, Grennan found not only a country devastated by the recent civil war, but a place filled with orphaned children, poverty, starvation and all that comes along with these life changing experiences. In LITTLE PRINCES, Conor Grennan's memoir, little did he know that he would find something so different from what he expected and would be forced to return because when he leaves, he leaves a part of him still there...and that part is his heart.
From the time he walked in expecting to see broken, sad children who would be grateful for a pat on the head, to when he left for the first time, the difference was night and day. Very quickly, he became totally immersed in their world. With Nepal having been at war for almost ten years, there was so much corruption in the government that people had to get their own protection from the Maoist guerrillas. Families tried but were finding it so hard to just care for their children as well as hide them lest they be taken by the guerrillas to be made into soldiers. Out of sheer desperation, they would trust men who promised to educate their children, and they even paid a large fee for this "service". Little did they know these were the scum of the earth, child traffickers, who would take the children off to Katmandu to be made to beg, or worse yet, be sold into slavery.
Conor learns all this and discovers that these children he has fallen in love with may not even be orphans! It was all this that brought Conor back. He took 7 children and opened his own shelter upon his return. He later went into the mountains to find the families in order to try and reunite them. LITTLE PRINCES will stay with you a long time. You will find out how many children Conor reunites with their families, as well as how many more need his help. Next Generation Nepal is the non-profit organization that Conor created and runs to help these children by opening a new home and still doing similar things today. LITTLE PRINCES is a book you won't want to end or put down as you become involved in the lives of these children and get to see how one man CAN make a difference, can you?
Karen D. Haney, Author/Developer of BOOKIN' WITH BINGO ( http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com/ ), reviews books and interviews authors for her book blog. Reading and writing are her passion.
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