2025 We, Not Me Nepal School Uniform Program

Take a look at these kid's grateful smiles and incredible happiness.... their lives have been changed forever! In Nepal, no child can attend school without a uniform, and even tho a uniform (shirt, pants/skirt, & even shoes) is 'only' $20, for many it is sadly out of reach.

I will be returning to Pokhara, Nepal in 3 weeks with the hope of lighting up more kid's faces like these with the help of my friends in the U.S. This is the 8th year since the 'We, Not Me' School Uniform Program was established…. And it all began because of the generosity of my friends here in the U.S. In that time we have distributed well over 1,500 uniforms in Pokhara.

Yeah, it doesn't sound like a big program, and it isn't.... but it sure is for those receiving their first uniform. There is an actual beautiful face behind each kid that receives his/her first uniform. And 1,500+ kids have had their life changed forever.

......and even more very exciting news! This year the We, Not Me Nepal School Uniform Program has been expanded to also provide school lunch meals for the children who attend the schools we sponsor. Our expansion will provide lunch meals to the kids, perhaps the only meal they might eat each day... the government provides only 20 cents per student for the lunch and only for children up to 8 years old…. after 8, no money goes to meals, and that’s where we will help out with the money we raise.

Bottom line….We, you and I, are changing lives in our small way… yeah, it is not changing millions of lives, but that really doesn’t matter….. We each can advance the ball forward in the smallest of ways…. hopefully more small grassroots similar thinking people will in any way or cause that moves them.... whatever, wherever and however. For me, I always remind myself that "A kid is a kid is a kid" no matter where they live and we were just lucky to be born in a country without the same severe poverty... it could have been me.

It is also an opportunity to be part of something much bigger than each of us individually and that will warm your cockles…. Trust me. I’d like to have lots of $10 donors to insure this program grows and grows in numbers as well as dollars…. Each year we have reached or exceeded our goal and this year I’ve set that goal to be much higher...$5,000. As always, I’ll be posting pictures/videos and my journal as we deliver the uniforms in early March…. Then check out the faces on the kids!

Please donate and open your hearts and your wallets as much or as little as you can, and from the bottom of my heart, I thank you.

With peace and love,

Ken

PS- in my 19 years of volunteering, I have never been as excited about an upcoming trip….I've arranged to have eight of my dearest friends from Bhutan & Nepal meet each other and we will stay with Krishna & Bimala in Pokhara and then go on to Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha…. And next year I hope to invite any/all my friends to Nepal & Bhutan to join me in what I hope will be the trip of a lifetime for you too…. More to follow.