Manisha’s Adventures in Malaysia

Thank you for believing in our mission to rescue children from poverty, malnutrition, trafficking and abuse and give them the loving home and education they need to become successful adults. And if you need evidence that your support is working, you don’t need to look any further that our wonderful Ama Ghar daughter Manisha.

You may remember that Manisha is working on her Bachelor’s degree in Hotel Management, and now Manisha has taken her first airplane flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for an internship at the Holiday Inn as the final milestone in gaining her degree. She lives in an apartment with other Nepali girls who are college students, and the hotel’s van picks her up, takes her to work and brings her home, so she is safe but a bit sheltered… which is probably a good thing for a girl who has gone from a small village to the safe atmosphere of the Ama Ghar home.

But slowly Manisha and her friends are learning to use the transit system so that they can see more of this enormous, rapidly modernizing city. They recently traveled from their apartment to an inexpensive shopping mall in Chinatown so that Manisha could buy makeup; she has never worn makeup before, but the hotel management asked her to do so – what an introduction to the modern world! In addition, they went to see the new Hobbit movie and nearly froze to death in the air conditioning – and then the girls saw people dressed in costume as part of a comic book convention.

There is a bit of prejudice against Nepali workers in Malaysia, but when Manisha explains that she is interning as part of her Bachelor’s degree and not taking a full time job that could have gone to a Malaysian person, then people have been very kind to her. Her only complaint is that the food is a bit too sweet for her taste, but she and her friends have found Nepali restaurants where they can get their beloved dal bhat!

Very exciting and a little confusing for Manisha, but this is all part of learning about the world outside of her comfort zone. To westerners, this new job and adventure that she has taken on to finish her Bachelor’s may seem like normal, everyday life, but for Manisha it is a big stretch and an amazing opportunity for her to broaden her horizons. When she was a small abandoned girl in a remote village, she never imagined that she would be able to live with friends in a big city and be paid for doing a management job.

It’s literally a dream come true, and she couldn’t have done it without your generosity. At Ama Ghar we promise our children that we will support them in their education as far as their own skills will take them – and thanks to you, we’ve been able to keep that promise for Manisha. She has become a productive global citizen and living proof that if we work together we can save the world, one child at a time.