2011-37 - Little Princes, by Conor Grennan

37 - Little Princes, by Conor Grennan, 282 pages, William Morrow, 2010
WHY I PICKED IT: My friend Eileen recommended it
ELAPSED TIME: 4 days
RATING: REQUIRED READING

Telling the tale of how Grennan went from volunteering in an orphanage during a civil war so that he could say "I volunteered in an orphanage in a civil war" to loving the kids, and starting his own NGO to help return these children to their families.

The relationships that he builds with his friends and colleagues to are also passionate about this kind of work, the relationship he builds with Liz, and most importantly the relationships he builds with so many of these kids are all so well written and expressed.

Grennan is open about the lessons he learns:
- The need for patience - That "Nepal time" isn't about incompetence and laziness, but when putting families together that have been apart for more than 4 years, you can't just drop the kids off and wave goodbye, but allow the relationships between parent and child to be reformed.
- The humility - These parents sent their children with the wealthy man from Kathmandu not because they wanted their kids to be turned into slaves, but because they genuinely thought that was the best option for their child because the alternative is being kidnapped and turned into a child soldier... and being the preaching Westerner is the absolute wrong thing to do.

This is way, way, WAY better than Mortensen's Three Cups of Tea. The best book I've read this year (so far); I highly recommend it