“On a Mish” #423 Kindness is the Key to Success. Nuwakot, Bagmati District. Nepal. 29.11.2024. ‘Kindness – the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate’. The Nepali people I have met have been everything found in the definition of kindness and so much more. During my times trekking in Nepal, I have encountered people with very little but with so much to give. They might not have much money but that doesn’t mean they suffer or complain. And when foreigners come for a visit, they shower them with love and happiness, making our ‘first world’ problems seem like a waste of our energy…
During my time on this planet, I have never been in a position where I was earning the big bucks and financially sound. But this hasn’t stopped me from doing all I can to help the amazing Active Hearts Foundation team as best I can. I have always wanted to give much more than I have been able to, however this feeling subsides when I see how grateful the recipients of our help are. The love they show back is powerful and pure, and it has made me want to return to the country to help whenever the opportunity arises.
At first, I came to Nepal to support my good friend Dan, as he worked in the country as a mountain guide and was there when the earthquake struck in 2015. Knowing many of his Nepali friends needed assistance, he put out the call for people to join him on a trek to help the many effected by the devastating events of 25th of April 2015. At first, I was ticking off one of the places I wanted to visit before I leave this world, but after my venture into the land of the highest peaks I mostly wanted to come back and catch up with the friends I had made, and to keep the Active Hearts flame burning brightly.
I hate to single out anyone because all the Nepali people I have met have been inspiring and excellent representatives of their amazing country. However, if there had to be one person who stands just slightly higher than others it would be my Nepali brother Arjun Adhikari. With a smile that would hurt the face of most, he tackles every day with an infectious happiness like no other. Not only is he bloody entertaining, but he is always looking at ways to help the ones in need in his country. When my back and hip have tried to keep me down, he has always found a way to bring me back up again.
I first met Arjun back in 2015 after the earthquake, and I quickly found out that he was doing a huge amount for his community before the earth shook. Even as a youngster he was at meetings with village elders and looking at ways to better the area where he lived. With a focus on helping the children he did enough to inspiring the ringleader of the Active Hearts Foundation, Mr Danz Bus-Keys.
Arjun’s awesome brother Gokul guided Dan and lit the kindling of what was to become a movement that I am so proud to be part of. Starting with helping a school in the village that Arjun grew up in with a small library, Arjun and Dan have gone on to provide education to hundreds (if not thousands) of children in the form of libraries in schools in some of the poorest parts of Nepal.
Along with the libraries they have gone on to build pipelines, toilet blocks and many other extremely valuable assets for folks in impoverished parts of Nepal. Seeing the results of all their hard work has been enough to make me want to do everything I can to get back each year to contribute to the charity they created. I might not be able to contribute millions of dollars to the foundation, but I can contribute my time and energy, and it has helped make me a better person.
‘Kindness – the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate’. If I wrote a dictionary, it would have a picture of Dan and Arjun beside that definition. Dhan’yavāda Dan Dai and Arjun Dai, I am forever thankful for everything you have done for the Nepali people. And for me!
