Considering how incredibly effective the sharing of the ‘real-life stories‘ behind virtually each of the children supported by just-one would most probably be in helping to persuade any potential donors who stumble across our web-site to be drawn towards that nice green ‘make a donation‘ button on the sidebar to your right, it’s perhaps somewhat surprising how shamefully sparse the ‘their stories‘ section of our site has remained for a ridiculously long time now… There is, however, a particular reason for this which I’m about to attempt to explain here now, to the best of my ability, so please do bear with me if you dare to care!! ;o)

As already mentioned in greater detail in the general introduction on the ‘their stories‘ page, it’s through the sharing of such tales that we have the opportunity to bring our generous supporters closer to the important work which they kindly empower us to do here in Nepal and allow them to rightly share in some of the truly wonderful successes that we simply could not have achieved without their on-going assistance. While a few snippets of some of these real-life stories I speak of here, have certainly been shared in some random blog-posts over the last couple of years, any long-term visitor to this site might well question the continued presence of the now long-outdated “coming soon…” ending used on the page in question.

I’ve included the picture below in a sincere attempt to help me explain the frighteningly complex ethical issues (in my head, at least…) that we’ve been grappling with now for far too long already. These issues relate specifically to the rights of dignity and privacy of each and every individual we work with here in Nepal, versus the potential financial gain to be had from the open and honest sharing of their stories. Very few would argue, I imagine, that the photo portrays nothing short of a truly heart-wrenching scene – not that much different from countless similar scenes openly visible on the streets of Kathmandu which, in fact, combined to provide the initial catalyst that saw just-one spark into existence ’way back in 2004. Take a lingering look at the picture now in passing, but be sure to scroll on past it, before your eyes perhaps well-up – making the words I intend to continue with below little more then an illegible blur of dark pixels on your monitor…

It’s a picture that I took shortly after moving to Nepal in mid-2004 with the relatively unplanned, and largely emotional, notion of getting school children in my Irish homeland to help disadvantaged children in Nepal go to school. The photo holds far more personal significance than I could ever hope to share here, but that’s entirely irrelevant for now as I’ve chosen to include it simply to highlight another more important issue. Shakti Lama (the pseudonym he chose himself when he agreed some time back to allow just-one share his story on this here web-site) was a little boy who bravely accepted the offer of assistance we made him the morning after the night this photo was taken. With almost 8 years passed, he has now grown (so significantly, in fact, that he’s certain he’ll be unrecognisable in the photo above to anyone other than those he might choose to share the words “That was me!” along with his cheeky grin) into a confident young man – with a much brighter future ahead of him than he may otherwise have had and a somewhat remarkable story to tell.

While just-one is most certainly part of this young man’s inspirational story and he, in return, is currently one of our proudest success-stories to date – we’ve never been entirely comfortable with taking ownership of a story that’s primarily HIS to tell. Considering  the potential financial benefit the sharing of such stories can provide, it’s hardly surprising that they’re so often used by many others in this business called ‘charity’. To strum upon your heartstrings with the finer details of any particular individual’s story, with the primary intention of loosening your purse strings, does very little in terms of respecting the dignity which every individual (rich or poor) rightfully deserves. This significantly grey area of ethics is one which perhaps deserves far more consideration by all involved, while either preparing or browsing through the variety of fund-raising material that continually arrives by post or email – often sharing intimately personal details of the impoverished lives of some poor unsuspecting Pedro or Aaliyah in a faraway land, who may one day grow to discover (and perhaps question or even regret…) the potentially widespread knowledge of the underprivileged origins which either of them may understandably wish to leave in the past…

I realise that we can, and indeed should, provide at least summary details of the individual stories we’ve become part of through our work here in Nepal, but also remain ever-conscious of the potentially unhelpful and unwelcome ‘labels’ that doing so could so easily see applied to any of the individuals in question – more particularly so in a country as prone to stigmatisation as Nepal sadly remains… Shakti’s not (nor, as we have reassured him time and time again, does he have any reason to be) ashamed of his hard-luck start in this seemingly random lottery called life but, despite happily agreeing to allow us share his story openly, it’s also likely that he has very little comprehension of the utterly unpredictable outcome that our doing so may one day lead to…

His particular story is such an amazing example of how true our ‘it doesn’t take much to make a difference‘ tagline actually is, it was chosen as the focus of our next short film to advertise and promote the work of just-one. This particular film though is likely to forever remain in its current close-to-finished state on the hard-drive of the Irish film-maker who kindly volunteered his services to document just-one‘s involvement in Shakti’s remarkable rise from a young rag-picking street kid to an emerging talent in Nepal’s mountain-biking community. It would most certainly have helped to highlight the general success of the family-focused approach taken by just-one and would perhaps also have further explained that, while we regard education as a immensely important factor in breaking the cycle of poverty that most of those we work with are trapped in, their overall personal development is of equally significant importance.

It was in this particular regard, which sees us pro-actively encouraging and enabling the children we support to pursue any extracurricular activities and hobbies they may be interested in, that we introduced young Shakti and his mountain-biking ambitions to Dawn ’til Dusk - who kindly agreed to take him under their wing and allow him to join their staff training rides during his weekend break from the schooling opportunity just-one provided for both him and his siblings. It wasn’t too long before his apparent athletic talent was noticed by his biking mentors and, with the incredibly generous sponsorship of ‘The Children’s Project‘ in my native Clonakilty, just-one was in the fortunate position to be able to provide Shakti with the entry-level simi-pro bike which allowed him to further advance his clear athletic ability.

His intense passion and growing ambition for all things mountain-biking (coupled perhaps, amongst a variety of other factors, with the well-intentioned, though poorly-considered, mention of international training/racing opportunities made, somewhat prematurely, by a foreign competitor impressed by Shakti’s gutsy participation in last year’s Yak Attack – one of the five most difficult and challenging mountain bike races in the world) saw ‘education’ drop ever-further down his personal list of priorities. Eventually, only a matter of months before the District Level exams he was due to sit, Shakti sadly (though wholly understandably) decided he no longer required the educational support just-one had been providing him with and chose instead to focus entirely on his youthfully and determined ambition to be the best that he CAN become in his chosen sport.

Considering the original thought which spurred this particular entry to our somewhat more active blog of late, I’ve probably shared too much of Shakti’s story already and should honour his right to decide whether or not to ever share the finer and more identifiable details of what is essentially HIS own ‘That was me!‘ story. I do hope though, that I’ve in some small way at least explained the years old ‘coming soon…‘ ending to our ‘their stories‘ section. I’ll endeavour, as best as time allows, to ensure that these stories are indeed shared soon… It will most likely be with a revised introduction explaining that whatever stories are eventually published will be composite creations of the real-life stories we encounter each and every day through our ongoing work – told in the true and honest manner which potential donors like you expect and deserve, but also in the anonymous and personally unidentifiable manner which the individuals concerned are no less deserving of too!

Good things, they say, take time and this leaves me quite unsure as to what excuse I could actually offer here for whatever random words I’m now about to type, so apologies in advance to all you fantastically patient followers of all things just-one! Hours turn days into weeks and on into months and so much happens in the meantime that remains shamefully untold, that I’m constantly surprised that we have any supporters at all, not to mind the slowly growing army we’re actually managing to recruit despite these times of global austerity and all such things of political greed and corruption that currently plague our strangely troubled planet!

My unexpectedly extended trip back to Ireland finally came to an end at the beginning of January when, happy in knowledge that my mother would soon be discharged from hospital in good health, I was able to re-engage just-one‘s fund-raising gear and set course for a brief stop over in Dubai, en route to Kathmandu, to discover if schools there would perhaps be as enthusiastic to help fund our growing work in Nepal as schools in Ireland have been over the last number of years.

Students of Regent International School in Dubai learning of just-one.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was at the amazing response I received during what was initially supposed to be a mere fact-finding mission. Though initially daunted by the very thought of it, the somewhat impromptu presentation I ended up giving to a sports-hall full of students (450, I’m told, in all… Yikes! ;o) at Regent International School went as smoothly as any other I’ve given across Ireland since our early beginnings in the rolling hills of West Cork ‘way back in 2003!

This most recent gathering of multicultural young scholars I had the pleasure of speaking to in a warm and sunny Dubai (despite what those I met there were saying about it being Winter ;o) stand to prove that children, the world over and regardless of their respective backgrounds, are generally a caring and compassionate species who, given appropriate opportunities, are more than willing (not to mention able) to offer a helping hand to those less fortunate than themselves.

Like countless more of their Irish colleagues, over the months and years gone by, the students of RIS are but hours away from participating in their first fund-raiser in aid of just-one, and our well-serving model of ‘kids helping kids’ continues and brings much hope and promise to those our incredible team of local staff here in Kathmandu work tirelessly to serve. Aside from being most welcome and even more appreciated, the sea of colour and smiling faces their school is likely to be awash with tomorrow (when they enjoy the Valentines Day Fancy Dress fund-raiser which was their chosen form of support); it is also timely in that, after more than seven years, it has left me finally contemplating the absolute necessity of developing a section on this here generally dusty part of cyber-space, specifically to duly acknowledge and rightly applaud the numerous inspiring events organised by the equally inspirational young students in the growing number of far-flung schools which just-one is truly fortunate to count amongst our kind and supportive friends.

Good things, as I said to begin with, take time, but right now I’ve got a battery indicator light flashing on my task bar and reminding me that I’m back in a city plagued by up to 18 hours a day of scheduled power outages (currently only 16 hours though, so it’s all good ;o) and, ‘absolute necessities’ notwithstanding, the development of entirely new sections of this here web-site will simply have to stand in line and allow the imminent posting of these words take precedence before they’re forever lost! ;o)

Given that the journey began ‘way back in October (while I was too simply too busy dealing with the unfortunate combination of my annual fund-raising trip to Ireland and a family crisis of mammoth proportions to even contemplate trying to blog about it here) most of you will be forgiven knowing little or nothing about travel4more or the current trans-global adventure they’re undertaking – through which they’re also very kindly raising valuable funds for just-one‘s ongoing work in Nepal.

The story began when Tom (a Liverpudlian friend who had come to know of just-one while he was sharing his legal expertise with a human-rights organisation in Nepal which he voluntarily worked with a few years ago) teamed up with Sina, Janne and Patrice (3 young Germans who shared his passion for travel) and together they decided to embark upon a 30,000km overland adventure from Melbourne, Australia to the small Bavarian town of Mömlingen that the German trio hail from.

While the primary objective of the travel4more project is to provide a real-time critique of the varying impacts of global tourism with a particular focus on responsible travel, they also wisely included a socially conscious angle to the trip by offering to raise both awareness of and valuable funds for just-one. Far from being a mere afterthought, their decision stemmed from their strong belief that the trip was not only a valuable opportunity to highlight the positive and negative effects tourism has on the regions and countries they’ll be passing through, but was also an equally valuable opportunity to raise some much needed funds for an organisation tackling some of the negative effects of tourism. This is where Tom’s time in Kathmandu became extremely fortuitous for all at just-one as, having witnessed the unwittingly central role that well-intentioned travellers often play in the sad phenomenon of street-children, it was decided that just-one was to be the lucky organisation to benefit from their novel initiative.

And benefit we have! I’m absolutely thrilled to report that today saw the latest donation, made via travel4more‘s fund-raising page on our site, push the running-total €10 over their initial target of €3,000! We’re obviously delighted to receive such a significant boost to our funding (bearing in mind that €3,000 isn’t a whole lot less than 10% of the current annual budget for our proudly no-frills operation in Nepal) and even happier to know that the travel4more team intend to continue raising money in aid of our work for the duration of their journey! It goes without saying that this money, along with all other funds we graciously receive, is HUGELY appreciated by all at just-one, will be put to the very best use by our incredible team of local staff in Kathmandu and is nothing less than central to the continuing success of our work in Nepal.

Hailing, as I do, from the small coastal town of Clonakilty in Ireland (home to, amongst many other fantastic events, the sporadically annual ‘just-one weekend’ which will have a whole blog to itself in due course…), I was also very happy to learn (as I did recently in an email from a kind donor to travel4more‘s fund-raising drive) that just-one has also become “a little bit famous” around the small Bavarian town of Mömlingen. I think it’s fair to say that, to date, ‘small’ has been the beauty, and indeed the success, of all that just-one is! We know that we’ll never change the whole world nor address all its problems, but we’re happy to simply brighten the world of each of the children we work with by tackling their individual problems one by one. Our entire operation is small enough to allow our staff to personally know each of the children we support and to be considered a close friend and confidant by each of them and their respective families who often struggle against unfathomable odds. Our overall financial requirements are small enough to allow ordinary people like you to become hugely significant contributors to our on-going and important efforts in Nepal.

You don’t have to be a Sina, Tom, Janne or Patrice and contend with the perilous task of traversing the globe to raise much needed funds for us. Their fantastic endeavour is most certainly greatly appreciated (and, needless to say, we are always delighted to hear that someone or other has decided to hold a coffee morning/table quiz/head shave/parachute jump/cake sale/marathon run/dinner party/etc in aid of our work ;o), but it shouldn’t be forgotten that the ultimate success of a fund-raising event like this starts at a much more basic level – with the fantastic support that people like you give so freely. I can assure you that it all adds up and I can doubly assure you that there is no such thing as a donation too small to be of benefit to just-one.

To reiterate that particular point I want to quickly share a random instance that took place in my local supermarket on Christmas Eve just gone. As I queued at the check-out, a boy tapped me on the shoulder and, handing me some money, simply said “That’s for the kids in Nepal.” Turning around to thank him, I saw that he was there with a couple of his friends (one wearing a very cool black trilby hat ;o) buying chocolate and I just thought how wonderful it was that he was willing to share what little he may have had for the benefit of the less fortunate children he hears me taking about when I’ve visit his school every year. I don’t know the boy personally but do want to thank him here again – not only for his incredibly kind contribution towards just-one‘s work, but also for perhaps providing the potential inspiration for you to kindly consider if you might also be able to make a donation of your own and get a head-start on a truly meaningful resolution for 2012! Thanks Oisín – as long as there are people like you and Tom and Sena and countless others in the world, I’ve got no doubt that, economic recession or not, just-one will be able to continue doing all it does and the world will be that much brighter.