Twenty years ago HOPE worldwide Nepal opened a school in Kathmandu. Little children started coming and learning. The school enrolled the poorest of the poor. The majority of the parents were illiterate migrants from far off districts of Nepal.

Twenty years later we are celebrating 20 years of HOPE worldwide Nepal. Some of the former students are now teaching at the school. The school administrator is also a former student. Many of those children are now university graduates. Some are pursuing careers in places like London or Singapore.

Twenty years ago the Tahirpur leprosy colony in North East Delhi was a very sad place. Leprosy patients, abandoned by their families and shunned by their communities, had migrated from all over the country to this slum in the capital city of India.

They lived in horrible conditions. Their huts were built of straw and mud. Every year the monsoon would wash everything away. Disease was rampant. Ninety-five percent of the leprosy patients survived by begging. They had been robbed of their dignity and they were treated as pariahs by society. The physical condition of the leprosy patients was deplorable. Their open sores were left untreated and most suffered from tuberculosis.