By Rita Thapa
Yesterday I was invited to watch “Waiting For Mamu” – a film made on 2012 CNN Hero, Pushpa Basnet. From start to finish tears flowed down my face shamelessly. More so, when Pushpa who has now taken in over 100 children of jailed mothers from 14 prisons across Nepal, spoke of how the “Butterfly Home Project” for her children is an absolute commitment on her part so that they are no longer thrown away from rented homes as in the past years.
She will need over $ 700,000 or more (I gather from my experience) to build and equip something to house that large a family. So far she has acquired land and has received approximately $ 100,000 in cash. I returned from the film with a silent pledge to my self to commit my personal gift of Rs. 100,000 and while that accumulates, to look for a matching gift/s of US $ 100,000 for Pushpa.
From my experiences in the past I know that having the intentions with a good motivation usually fulfills philanthropic aspirations, even though one may start from scratch and one may not have any endowed resources, pledges, or means of ones own. Therefore I am probing to see if others have similar experiences. This can then inform that philanthropically guided intentions will propel philanthropy. In this case, intentions would be just as good as the gifts themselves. If this were so, then there would be no limit to dreaming. Everyone doing good work for the wellbeing of others would never be in dire want! I am not exempting necessary work – just emphasizing on the intent.
I have put the intentions out for Pushpa’s Butterfly Home Project. I pray that the money will come in within a year as I work towards this. If it does I hope to make a point, and in doing so create a paradigm shift for all of us thus engaged!
Rita Thapa is the founder of Nagarik Aawaz, an initiative for conflict transformation and peace building in Nepal, where she previously founded and led Tewa – Nepal Women’s Fund.