Walk us through a normal day at Kopila Valley. What is like to be a young woman half a world away from the home you grew up in?
We now have thirty children who live with us and over two hundred who attend our school every day.  As you can imagine a typical day can be pretty hectic and you never know what to expect.  Generally I wake up every morning to the sound of thirty children running around and one particular two and a half year old boy who sleeps in my room.  It’s like living in any family’s home with a child anywhere but multiplied by thirty of them.  There’s breakfast, chores, playing and then getting them all ready for school.  I’m also in charge of my 7 Nepali staff who manage the home and 13 teachers who teach our children every day, and volunteers from abroad.  There is always a lot of legal work, paperwork, issues arising with children and families in our school and community, accounting, medical cases, and grocery shopping.  Running a school is a lot of work and raising thirty children is even harder but I have a strong support system, village community and staff and we all work well together.  At the end of the day when all of our children are fed and ready for bed we sit down as a family for what we call, satsung.  We have a family meeting and sing songs, dance, pray and meditate.  It’s a beautiful bedtime ritual and it’s always everyone’s favorite time of day.  As for being a white young American woman, I’d like to think I’ve learned to blend in pretty well and gain acceptance and respect from my community.

Was there ever a point in your journey where you encountered opposition?
Opposition… yes.  Hurdles… yes.  Days where I wanted to give up… yes.  Heartbreak…yes.  Doubt… yes. Homesickness… yes.  Grief and sadness like you wouldn’t believe… yes.  Although I’m living my dream and wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world, I’ve experienced and felt all of these things.  I’ve witnessed the death and loss of many children in the past few years, all of whom were extremely close to me.  It also wasn’t easy getting the registration through, working in the Nepali bureaucratic system, finding land, learning the language, or gaining respect from my local villagers, elders and the community.  Every day I need to work to be sure we have enough funds and money to support over two hundred children.  There are days where I wake up and think, oh my gosh, this is so overwhelming and I have to take a deep breath. Yet, somehow things work out and I haven’t been alone and every day I learn a little bit more about myself.  I like it.  There have also been days of the greatest joy, love, and happiness and I swear to myself that I have the best life in the world and thank my lucky stars for my blessings. People who come to visit our home say they’ve never experienced anything like it. There are hard days of course but I think that’s true with anything for anyone.

What techniques did you use to overcome it?
On a bad day, all I have to do is look into the faces of my children.  They smile or tell a joke or do a little dance and my worries melt away.  Laughing helps.  I’ve always laughed a lot.

You created the BlinkNow organization to be a US counterpart to Kopila Valley. According to the mission statement, “BlinkNow is a grass-roots organization working to empower young people to become pioneers in developing their own solutions to world poverty.” What sorts of successes has BlinkNow had?
We want our students to end cycles of poverty in their families and in their countries by using their education and becoming the next generation of leaders and change makers.  We’re trying to prepare them for the future so that they are equipped to raise families, become doctors, and teachers and government leaders and deal with the problems and issues facing our world.  I believe we’ve created an excellent model for orphan care and orphan education in Nepal.

What does the practical application of your mission statement look like?
Raising children day in and day out, making sure they have nutritious meals, are surrounded with positive role models, good teachers, helping them to gain practical and vocational skills to prepare them for the future, helping them to heal through art, music, and learning how to express themselves.

You’ve also written a guide called Social Tips for Entrepreneurs, which is full of helpful information for anyone who wants to begin a nonprofit organization. On a heart and soul level, what advice would you give women who want to help change the world?
Follow your heart, listen to your intuition, you can do everything you’ve ever dreamed of and more so dream big and then take the steps to achieving your dream one day at a time.  It’s nothing you’ve never heard before but I think it helps to hear it again and again.  You, living your dream, no matter what it is or what that looks like, will change the world.  I really do believe that.  As women especially, we have so many expectations set upon us.  Sometimes it’s hard to step out of the mold, or take a risk, but I’ve found that when we follow our hearts, everything else just seems to fall into place.  Trust me.

And thanks for reading my story.  Every good wish to you all.  You can follow the day to day happenings of our home and school by visiting blinknow.org.
xo Maggie

Interviewed by Sarah Stevens for GGG.