Starting school: Breakfast Rotary gives Nepali children a new beginning

The Shelbyville Breakfast Rotary Club is the 38th recipient of the Globe Club award this year. Rotary Clubs are honored with this award due to their international projects. Shelbyville's club received the award because of their work in Nepal.

Bryan Nerren, a member of the club and pastor of International House of Prayer, was first alerted to the situation in Nepal several years ago after a revival at First Baptist Church in Shelbyville.

"I met Glenn Shepherd and had dinner with him," he said. "He told me all about Nepal and invited me to go."

Since that time, Nerren has been every year and was there during their Civil War and the Bloody Revolution, when the king was overthrown.

The Himalayans are in Nepal, which is about the size of Tennessee and has a population of 27 million. Nerron said the people there are about 100 years behind the rest of the world.

"It is still very primitive," he said. "There are still millions of people who have no clue about the outside world. I was one of the first white men to speak there. They have opened the doors to the outside world now."

The people of Nepal are mostly Hindus, who believed the king to be a deity and who also have a caste system. The lowest caste are the animals. Hindus believe in five castes and reincarnation. A person must be reincarnated through each of the castes before they make it to Heaven.

Since the king has been overthrown, many people are in a chaotic state when it comes to religion.

"They really believed the king was the last living deity," Nerron said. "Now that he's been deposed, the religion is really dying off fast."

Because the people are now going to a secular government, the caste system no longer exists, which means children in the lower caste can go to school. Before the king was overthrown, it was illegal for those in the lower castes to receive an education.

Even though those children are now able to go to school, it is nearly impossible for them to do so because they must provide their own uniforms and books, which most are not able to afford.

"Some of the people there are known as rockbreakers," he said. "They sit on a pile of rocks with a hammer and break the large rocks into gravel. They sit there all the time and never leave their spot. They have to try to break enough rocks to live, and they still can't afford good food and clothing. They want their children to learn and have a better life than they had, but they don't have the money to buy uniforms or books."

Breakfast Rotary sent enough money the first year for 400 of the children to receive uniforms. They took them to a tailor, who measured them and went back to make the items, which were given to the children when finished.

The club partnered with the Nepal Christian Children's Educational Fellowship and the Asian Children's Education Fellowship to also provide books for the children.

"So far, we've provided uniforms and books for over 800 children," he said. "That's a small village of children who are going to be able to receive an education."

Children aren't viewed the same way by the people of Nepal as by people in the United States. Children as young as a year old are often seen toddling through the streets without an adult to keep them out of trouble.

"We want to change the people's perception of children," he said, "and make them see how important the safety of their children really is."

Nerren has also helped develop a training teaching conference to train young people to lead Sunday School classes.

"We furnish a place to stay and good food for them to eat," he said. "We give them steak every day, when most of them are lucky to have any kind of meat three times a year."

The classes also teach life skills and allows those receiving training to set up Sunday Schools anywhere, including out in the open under a tree.

While in Nepal, Nerren usually helps with a medical clinic, which sees over 1,000 people in two days.

"We go up about 10,000 feet," he said. "It's a two-day bus ride. I've participated in 30 major surgeries. We've done mastectomies and removed tumors from people's brains. It's amazing what I've seen."

Nerren is planning another trip in October and says he will take anyone who is willing to go.

"What we do over there matters," he said. "Sometimes, the things we do here don't seem to matter as much, but over there, you know you are making a difference in someone's life."