On today's show, we bring you an interview with Bruce Keenan, the Founder and President of Himalayan Children's Charities.

When all children have access to a quality education rooted in human rights and gender equality, it creates a ripple effect of opportunity that influences generations to come.  

Today, education remains an inaccessible right for millions of children around the world. More than 72 million children of primary education age are not in school and 759 million adults are illiterate and do not have the awareness necessary to improve both their living conditions and those of their children.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world", Nelson Mandela famously said.  Education reduces poverty, decreases racism, eliminates gender inequality and helps prevent needless deaths. Education is the strongest weapon, bar love, to change the world we live in.

School offers children a safe environment, with support, supervision and socialization. Here they learn life skills that can help them prevent diseases, including how to avoid HIV/AIDS and malaria. Children may receive life-saving vaccines, fresh water and nutrient supplementation at school. Yet, there are many in the world, who still do not have basic education.

Close to 62 million girls around the world are not in school, and even more struggle to remain where they belong – in the classroom. Every day, girls are taken out of school, married far too young, and subjected to violence in school. And yet, it’s proven that with an education, girls can lift themselves – and everyone around them – out of poverty.

This brings us to today's highlighted nonprofit, Himalayan Children's Charities...

Himalayan Children’s Charities (HCC) creates paths out of poverty for orphaned and abandoned Nepali children. Through investment in quality education, innovative mentorship and a loving family environment, they help build lives of leadership. @HCCNepal

In Nepal, children in rural and marginalized communities are the most vulnerable segment of an extremely poor population already at risk of child marriage, child labor and human trafficking. 

Students attend quality, English-medium boarding school through grade 10, and spend holidays at Khushi Ghar, the Himalayan Children’s Charity youth home, where students in grades 11 and 12 live full time. The program works to inspire self-confidence, independence, and enable each of the students to elevate their lives and the world around them.

Bev had the opportunity to sit down with Bruce Keenan, Founder & President of this organization.