Pentecostals in Nepal: A New Beginning for Rajesh

Pentecostals in Nepal: A New Beginning for Rajesh

July 13, 2009

By Tom Velie

As of January 1, 2009, New Beginnings, an adoption service started by Apostolics, was officially registered to provide international adoption services from the country of Nepal. We have already submitted our 10 allowed dossiers for 2009, but are looking for more families to adopt in 2010. At this time, we have received no inquiries from Apostolic families. Things are moving ahead nicely for the international program.

Some History

In April 2007, Stephen Drury and I traveled to Nepal. We met with Brother Bobby Adhikari, who we hired as our representative in Nepal. He also serves as the Secretary for the UPCI of Nepal, and is a great young man. We expected to begin the adoption process at that time, but the Nepali government decided to rewrite the adoption guidelines about one month after our return.

In May 2008, we received a visit from the official delegation there, including Mr. Madhov Paudel, who is a high-ranking government secretary. The group of five men representing the Ministry of Women, Children, and Social Welfare spent three days in Tupelo, MS. We thoroughly enjoyed the visit. We had a grand banquet to honor them, and Mr. Paudel was given the keys to the city of Tupelo.

Big News

The big news is the orphan home in Nepal. Important fact: a child born in Nepal is reportedly the least likely child born on earth to ever hear the name of Jesus. Now the children who come to the New Beginnings of Nepal home will have that opportunity.

The new photos of the Nepal orphan home feature the first resident, an orphaned boy: Rajesh, whose name has been changed for confidentiality. I do not know if he will be available for adoption, but we do plan to start a Nepal Orphan Home partner program in the near future. This will be a monthly sponsorship program.

I'll let Renae Hellen describe the home's first resident:

The face of the little boy smiled from the photograph that we received in an email from our Nepal coordinator. We opened a few more photographs of him; one of him sitting in front of a plate of food (and enjoying it by the looks of it), one of him sitting in front of our coordinator's computer, another of him standing in a doorway, and another of him in which he looked distraught, sad, angry even. This little boy, Rajesh*, is the first child in the New Beginnings of Nepal orphanage since a building was purchased to house the children.

[Editor's note: See pictures here.]

Rajesh looks to be about five years old and is a beautiful child. Our Nepal coordinator shared a few details about Rajesh in his brief email. He said that Rajesh came from the far western part of Nepal. His mother had died, and his father had left home and never returned. Orphaned, abandoned, alone, and frightened....We can only begin to imagine how this little boy must have felt, how he still must feel, and what he's already seen in his short life. I suppose if anyone had a reason to look distraught, he did.

I listened to a song the other day and loved one of the ideas that the song conveyed. Hope can be frail, but it's hard to kill. It is our prayer to plant hope into the hearts of children like Rajesh, and then to nurture that hope until it grows into something beautiful. I opened another picture of Rajesh from the email. It was a close-up face shot, close enough to see the details of his sweet face--the cleft in his chin, his short, brown hair with a cowlick near his hairline, the eyes that looked like pools of brown. And his smile. His smile was wide and genuine. Maybe he's already beginning to feel the love of his new caretakers, and maybe he's already beginning to feel the hope of a better life. God has great and mighty plans for little ones like Rajesh; we have hope that those great and mighty plans can be realized for them. May God bless you for helping these children to have hope and a future.

You Can Get Involved!
One other more immediate need is the ticket for Bobby to come to America in late September. He will be here for one month, attending the St. Louis conference, visiting churches, and staying at our home for that time period. The airfare here will be approximately $2,200 at yesterday's prices.

We definitely need a great band of monthly and annual partners for this program. Kathmandu is a poverty-stricken region if there ever was one. Perhaps someone would like to create a grass-roots program to support this new endeavor? Feel free to contact us at New Beginnings International Children's & Family Services.

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Tom Velie (LMSW) serves as the Executive Director of New Beginnings International Children's & Family Services.