Little Princes by Conor Grennan

Author:Conor Grennan
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2011-01-31T16:00:00+00:00

Part IV

INTO THE MOUNTAINS

November 2006-December 2006

Five

Farid and I both lived in Kathmandu now. I had my apartment, and Farid had taken a small room—a former pantry, judging by the size—on the ground floor of Dhaulagiri House, where he would be the house manager, looking after the kids. He wanted to live in the house for at least a few months to keep a close eye on the kids, day and night. I offered him one of the bedrooms in my apartment. I was lonely there. Except for being icy cold at night, it didn’t feel much like the Nepal I was used to back at Little Princes. Farid laughed at my suggestion.

“I could never live in this place that you live, Conor,” he said. “It is far too big! It is like a cathedral! It is not homey!”

I agreed with him there. The apartment was wonderful in that it was located close to Dhaulagiri House, but I would never feel comfortable there. I had always loved living at Little Princes Children’s Home, but Dhaulagiri would not have enough room for both Farid and me once the house was filled with children; there were only six there now, but there was room for perhaps twenty or so more. So Farid lived in Dhaulagiri, and I lived next door, spending much of my time at the children’s home.

We made frequent trips to Godawari to visit the Little Princes. During those visits, Farid and I told them all about Next Generation Nepal. We told them our goals, about trying to rescue children like them in order to give them a home.

But there was one thing we kept from the children. We did not tell them that for the previous six weeks, I had been quietly preparing for a mission into the mountains of Humla. I was going to try to find their parents, as well as the parents of the six children.

Farid helped put the finishing touches on my strategy. For safety reasons, I told very few people I was going. Golkka was a powerful figure in Humla. We knew he had threatened physical harm against Anna Howe and others who put his operation in Kathmandu at risk. In the remote northwest part of the country, there was virtually no rule of law, and I would not have the protection of an international organization. He knew who I was. If he knew I was going to Humla, it would not be difficult for him to disrupt my mission, even to attack me openly. He had much to lose by my success.

Before leaving, I had to compile all the information I could from the Little Princes. I had lots of photos of them already, plus critical biographical information, such as the names of their villages (as far as they could remember) and the names of their parents. Unfortunately, many of the children were taken when they were too young to know their parents by any name except mom and dad. In conversations, I gently

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