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Meet Sharmala. A little doll! Three years ago this month, Bev and I accepted the responsibility of caring for four Nepali orphans. To be honest, I was very reluctant to take on the task of caring for children. Once you commit you cannot back out and for us, at that time, it was quite a financial obligation. I'll never forget the first time I visited those four kids. They were staying in the home of a dear Nepali friend of mine and I went over to visit them for supper. They met me at the door, called me uncle and hugged my legs, all four of them about knee high. They were wearing threadbare hand-me-downs but they smelled of fresh soap and their laughter moved me to tears. I knew where they came from; the unforgiving streets of Katmandu and the grinding poverty of a parentless child in a remote mountain village where they were little more than slaves.
I committed on the spot to care for these four little ones. Our four children quickly grew to 12. How do you turn down a child brought by a desperate uncle who can barely care for his own children? Or by a mother who's husband has passed away and who mortgaged her small village plot of land to pay for his cremation? Unable to pay her creditors she lost the land. Many young girls like her daughter end up as child prostitutes in India . Or how do you turn away two boys found rummaging in a garbage pile on the streets of Bhaktapur?
We eventually moved the children to the city of Bhaktapur , about an hour west of Katmandu , where we have launched a small but growing church. They are given three hot meals a day and attend a nearby school where they are receiving a quality education. Their home is pleasant, clean and well managed and their English is amazing. I stay there every time I go to Nepal and honestly hate to leave.
Bev and I have been reluctant to appeal for sponsors for the children. We felt that we should simply take on this responsibility ourselves and prove ourselves before we asked others to join in helping. Now that the home has been in operation three full years, I feel confident that the Lord has led us to start it and I would even like to expand in a year or so. Sorry, but Sharmala is spoken for! But if you would like to take on the sponsorship of a Nepali child we would be grateful. $75 per month, about $2.50 per day will care for one child. I understand that taking on the care of a child is a long-term financial obligation and that a person's financial situation may change over the course of the 10 –15 years required to raise a child. For this reason we ask for a one year commitment only, which will allow you the opportunity to evaluate your giving budget from year to year.
For our part I will arrange to have a monthly letter sent to you from the child you are helping and we will send you a quarterly report on the child's progress in school. Thanks for standing with us as we serve some of the worlds most needy but deserving children. | 
