It’s unbelievable under what circumstances these people work and what their children are denied. They are denied an education simply because of their circumstances. And it’s challenging to break that cycle of poverty spiralling out of control from generation to generation unless you find a way to stop it. We are trying to do that with our home and school in Ladakh. That is is reasonable social impact in my mind. We are creating change via education.
As part of my series about “individuals and organizations making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Daniel Burgi.
Daniel Burgi is the CEO of Himalayan Life, a charity with a small team based in Vancouver and 135 local staff in Nepal. Over 3,000 children are impacted annually by their programs, with nearly 500 children receiving access to free education. 492,052 meals were served last year, and 325 children were provided safe and comfortable housing. Their programs include; shelter and activity programs, education and earthquake relief, vocational training, and adventure-based experiences that empower young women and children of all ages.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I first met a group of street children when backpacking in Nepal and India some twenty-five years ago. While travelling through the Himalayas, it happened totally out of the blue: one of those life-transforming encounters.
I was about to board a train when suddenly I was encircled by a horde of twenty rag-clad kids begging for food or anything. Forty dirty little hands were reaching for me, and twenty pairs of knowing, far too grown-up eyes bidding my mercy. Suddenly, the supposed simplicity of living out of my backpack didn’t seem all that ‘simple’ any longer — the moneybag under my T-shirt containing my passport and cash began to burn like fire against my skin. What was I supposed to do? Give them money? Buy food? I had a train to catch, but I had to act.
Besides my backpack, I was carrying a plastic bag with half-squashed bananas and more banana peel, ready to be disposed of in a garbage can. In my helplessness, I let go of the plastic bag. Immediately the kids let go of me.
The ensuing scene has engraved itself deeply and forever on my mind: looking back over my shoulder, I saw the twenty kids fighting to the teeth over the half-rotten bananas. One child got hold of some banana peel, stuffed it in his mouth and made a dash for it, three others hard on his heels.
For goodness’ sake: Banana peels!
I decided I could do better than throwing banana peels at hungry children. For over a decade, I have been pursuing the goal of adding perspective and hope, protecting, nurturing, and educating children in the Himalayas. Having founded an organization on the ground in India and Nepal, we are now feeding dozens of street children daily. We have opened a home for abandoned children in Nepal, so they would not become street children. They are spared the horrific experience of homelessness, survival by garbage scavenging, sexual exploitation, public hatred, gang brutality, and addiction. We have initiated and run homes for children of families who have fallen into bonded labour. We have created a social enterprise in PET recycling as a way forward for the hundreds of street kids to give them a real chance at life and transition out of their present predicament. We have substantially contributed to rebuilding the Yangri Valley after the devastating earthquakes of 2015, and we have built a school for the region’s children to get a good education.
This is what we are all about at Himalayan Life: Standing in the gap and caring holistically for the kids in the Himalayas. Giving them a chance to live — nothing more and nothing less.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
It is impossible for me to single out THE most interesting story that happened in the framework of working for over 25 years in Nepal and India. But what I can say positively is that I continue to be fuelled with energy and filled with a sense of wonder when seeing transformation happen in individuals and families. Consider the story of Sonam’s family as narrated in a brief way by his daughter Salomi in our latest annual report.
“My name is Salomi Sherpa, and I am 25 years old. When our lives became intertwined with Himalayan Life 15 years ago, a fresh wind from a different direction started filling our sails. My parents had been migrant workers in India, desperately trying to make ends meet and earn their place in society.
My mum is now honoured as the mother of hundreds of children and young adults, and my dad is a trusted leader in the Yangri Valley.
I am the very first graduate of any of the Himalayan Life homes. Upon completing my 12 years of schooling, I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Clinical Psychology, supported by a scholarship from Himalayan Life. While I still need work experience, I want to make my vocational skills available to Himalayan Life. I want to give back a little of what I have been given. I dream of seeing more of the transformation we have experienced in our family. My heart weeps when children grow up without the nurturing care they need to become healthy, responsible and whole adults. I want to make a difference.”- Salomi Sherpa.
From abusive, alcoholic, violent slave worker to pillar of the community. ‘Interesting’ doesn’t even begin to describe how thrilled I am that such transformation is possible, indeed.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
In the Nepalese language, there are two expressions that are very similar.
1. The expression of telling someone they shouldn’t be impacted by this or that in a very positive way; for example, everything is good here; you are not affected by what we are doing.
2. The expression, it’s none of your business.
These two expressions in Nepalese are very close together. I was doing some survey work, as I used to work as an engineer in Nepal doing hydropower-related work. We were working in a mountainous area and were very close to some army barracks, as the army controlled the national parks. A high-ranking gun-wearing army dude and his aids came out and very sternly asked us what we were doing there, and my language skills weren’t all that great back then, so I told them, “it’s none of your business,” and it didn’t go well. It took my staff hours and hours to prevent an arrest. It really did not go well. Ha!
I learned at that moment that language is very important, and from then on, I worked hard to improve my language. My Nepalese and general language skills have opened up so many doors in the years since. It’s unreal. In some places, for example, in Yangri for our school, we needed an initial license to run the school. I made a speech at the Nepalese Department of Education in front of govt officials, and at the end, an official said, “if it’s even solely on the account that your Nepalese is as good as ours, we will make it happen.” Language skills help! I speak like six or so languages. Yes, six.
Can you describe how you or your organization is making a significant social impact?
You have to be diversified and look at all four of our major projects in Nepal to see the extent of our social impact.
Take Ladakh and our home for children of migrant workers- We were just able to talk to and interact with these migrant workers during our Altitude Bicycle Ride. These migrant workers are in the international press because of the building work they were doing in Qatar for the world cup stadiums. 90% of the workers were Nepalese. Just today on CNN, they said that more than 500 workers perished.
It’s unbelievable under what circumstances these people work and what their children are denied. They are denied an education simply because of their circumstances. And it’s challenging to break that cycle of poverty spiralling out of control from generation to generation unless you find a way to stop it. We are trying to do that with our home and school in Ladakh. That is is reasonable social impact in my mind. We are creating change via education.
Or what about our work in Pokhara with street children? There are no more gangs! It’s so awesome! It’s unbelievable. I think I stopped believing in it, to be honest. We have worked so hard for the last 15 years to push against the tide of street children in Pokhara, and it seemed like it was unstoppable. For every kid we have been able to rescue off the street, three new ones popped out of the woods from somewhere. But finally, it has stopped! We have 70 of the kids who live with us in our street-to-school homes now, more than 30 young men have gotten vocational training, and some of whom are gainfully employed, some are married and providing for their families. Not every story is a success story, but so many are, and so there is some social impact for you.
And then there is our Newest project in the south of Nepal, in Chitwan, where we have just opened a home for kids in a very impoverished area. This is a mountainous area with deep river valleys, and high hills, like 1000 metres of altitude and children would have to walk 4–5 hours to reach the regional school. Guess how often they would go to school? Once a week? Twice maybe? Or many would not go at all. We run a student home next to the school, so students don’t have to walk back and forth. We have 41 kids there now. It’s a lovely place. I trust that through education in that area, too, we will see significant social impact.
Our school in the Yangri Valley as well is making a huge difference to an impoverished region where children simply didn’t go to school and where education is absolutely the key to securing their future. It’s not just impacting the kids but entire families. For example, two weeks ago, can you believe my life that just two weeks ago, I was in Nepal? A woman was bathing her children at the public well in Yangri, and remember, these are Tibetan/Thai People, and traditionally they bathe once per year. There, on a cold day, she was washing her children. We stood and watched, with Sonam (HL Nepalese Staff) saying, “look at that. It is beginning to bear fruit even at the basic level.” The woman is an employee at our school; she is illiterate, but she cleans at our school, and she was bathing her children there. So the social impact, you can’t even quantify. Yes, we have 220 students at our school right now, but that’s not where it stops; it’s hard to quantify because an entire region is being transformed.
Can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted or helped by your cause?
I have 50 stories I could tell, but three years ago or so, I went up to Grouse Mountain, and on the tram, someone that looked south Asian was staring at me. He asked me whether I’d ever been to Nepal. I said yes and started yapping in Nepalese, he answered in Nepalese, and we had a little conversation. And then he said, I know you. You are Daniel. It turns out his name is Anil, and he was part of the program we had put on for slum children in Nepal back in 1995.
We were young back then, holy cow! And the moment he said who he was I remembered him! He was part of our stamp exchange program whereby we had millions, like literally millions, of used stamps that people sent me from around the world. I had asked for people to send used or collected stamps, and they sent me bags and bags of postage stamps. It used to be a thing to collect them before email! So we divided the kids by country, and they sorted stamps and traded, and it was fun. It is undoubtedly hard for slum children to form an interest in things that are outside of the slum and open their eyes to the world out there. He was one of the kids.
It turns out he is married with a family, and they were travelling through Vancouver. They live in the States, and he is working on his doctorate at MIT. How well done, I thought. Wow, that’s kinda cool. ANIL. The sad part is that he wrote his phone number and email on a piece of paper, but I lost it. I have no means of getting back in touch with him.
Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
That was a good question. I’ve been asked that question before by politicians in Nepal when they look at the recycling plant in Pokhara, for example. They tend to do that before an election. They take a picture in front of the recycling plant, and the next thing the newspaper says is that they are somehow involved in my recycling plant in ways I can’t figure out, and they ask me how can we be involved in this important work you are doing?
If politicians could remove some of the crazy red tape, if they would provide a level of protection, say against the mafia, and safety for my employees, that would be absolutely fabulous, and we can do the rest. As an NGO, we have opportunities to do work that the government doesn’t necessarily do. If you think about street children, the city admins and governments think they need to get rid of the problem because it doesn’t make people feel secure, it doesn’t look good for our city, and we don’t want those children creating social upheaval, stealing things and so on. But for me, from an NGO point of view, I look at the problem differently. I look at it from the point of view of the individual that is suffering. Their task and our task are different, which is why I don’t have very high expectations of what we should expect from politicians. If they provide that level of protection I was talking about, I’m more than happy.
How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?
This one is very important to me. People often confuse leadership with management, but the two are different. For me, leadership means that you are an example and inspire people; these are the two most important things about leadership. And there are two things you need to do, show up and create clarity. That is leadership. Again, when you talk about politicians and leadership, there is probably a lot of confusion here.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
I’m not sure! What should I have known? What do I wish? The way I’m wired is that there is no substitute for experience. People can tell me a lot, but I am very stubborn and don’t believe things people tell me easily. Ya, I need to experience it myself.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I’m really not. Honestly, I don’t have enormous influence. Having said that, in my sphere of influence which is my organization, I love to promote education as a tool for transformation and just the general idea of transformation. If you keep believing that change is possible, that in and of itself is so inspiring. That’s all. Change is possible.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
The life lesson quote is that change is possible. Yes, that is Gandhi- he said you need to be the change you want to see. That is my number one quote. The other one I like, my number two, would be from Nelson Mandela, who I find extremely inspiring. He’s amazing, and what I find so amazing about him is his perseverance over so many years while he fought against apartheid. He did not give up even though he suffered badly from it on a personal level, with house arrest and jail, and yet when he managed to get into power after conquering apartheid, everyone said, now it’s payback time. But he said absolutely not; that would just continue the cycle of injustice. Instead, he formed what would be known as the truth and reconciliation committee, from where the Canadian committee of the same name gets it. Their job was to promote reconciliation. He said a winner is a dreamer who never gives up. That would probably be my favourite quote
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
I would love to have breakfast with Justin Trudeau. Here is why. We almost got kicked out of Canada at one point. The immigration process got completely stalled because of the Harper government. The rules were such that in my age bracket, regardless of education, it was hard to get permanent resident status, and we nearly needed to leave the country. But then Trudeau came into government and invited people to write to him, and I did. The secretary answered me, and the process got restarted! I thought that it was amazing, and really my point to them was not poor me, please let me stay; it was that I do believe that the immigration system should not just look at the economic impact that an individual makes, but that is what makes Canada great in the eyes of the word is not simply our economy, but that we are doing a lot of good. Look at our tax law; for charity, no other country in the world pays up to 47 cents per dollar for every dollar donation made to charity, but Canada does. We have it in our laws because there seems to be that consciousness that the HAVES have a responsibility toward the, not HAVES or the Have NOTS….but that, to me, is why I want to live here. I reached out to Trudeau, and the process got restarted. I’d say thank you.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
https://www.instagram.com/himalayanlifeinternational/
https://www.facebook.com/himalayanlifeinternational
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
Social Impact Heroes: Why & How Daniel Burgi of Himalayan Life Is Helping To Change Our World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.