jenns.world

Hidden Paradise Guest House is a small hotel ran by a friendly Nepali family in the hills of Nepal just north of Pokhara. Guests enjoy the quiet surroundings and the view of the lake that Pokhara nestles on. What a lot of the guests don’t know is that the place is managed by a very charming Nepali man that will often convince guests that his life, and that of his family, is a struggle and they could benefit with the help of the wealthy tourists. This post comes from personal experience as well as talking with others that have experienced the manipulation by Laxman at Hidden Paradise. First, I will be honest about the level of how personal things got with Laxman and myself. I arrived in Nepal after a 2 week volunteer trip with 3 other American women in Odisha India. I met Laxman in Kathmandu the day we arrived. He was very charming and clearly smitten with me from the beginning… or was he? As I have learned, Laxman tends to target women of a certain age that have a big heart,...

In March of 2016 I planned to build a home for Nisha, Manish and their little girl  that live at Hidden Paradise in Pokhara, Nepal . In August of 2016 the process of building that home had began and continued until we ran out of funds that Nisha could drum up, I contributed personally, and that friends of mine had donated. We left our story in October of 2016 during Deshain, a month long celebration very similar to our Thanksgiving and Christmas. With the workers taking the entire month off to spend with their families, Nisha and I used that time to get the shop up and running and to come up with a solution to fund the remainder of the home. During the course of the next couple months I had to come up with a plan to get Nisha and Manish the money they needed, but not directly through me. I suggested to Nisha that they get a loan from the bank, and we would find a way for them to pay the loan payment each month. In November Nisha and Manish applied for the loan, which was a several wee...

In March of 2016 I planned to build a home for Nisha, Manish and their little girl. In August of 2016 the process of building that home had began. Nisha messaged me on Facebook while I was working at my contract position in Seattle, WA (earning money for the home and my living expenses) to send me photos of the ground breaking and some of the supplies being delivered. I was excited and anxious at the same time. I was worried about how they were going to pay for the supplies and for the workers when I hadn’t gotten my first paycheck yet. Nisha told me she had money to get started. I felt relieved that they could start the home on their own and provide for themselves, not only since I couldn’t get the money to them but because I want the people of Nepal to be able to realize their potential and be able to do things without the help of tourists or others as much as possible. This was the first step in Nisha and Manish being able to build the home they never thought they could w...