In July 2000, King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, banned bonded slavery in Nepal. A year earlier, NH local businessman, Marion Noronha, (Turbocam Int.) had liberated and resettled 52 Nepali families after being challenged to tangibly demonstrate the way of Jesus, freeing people from bondage. Since that time, Noronha has been working through Grace Foundation Nepal to assist in the development of 5 villages primarily made up of ex-bonded slaves destined to remain in poverty as a result of their caste. Grace Foundation works to bring clean water, education, micro-loans, and vocational training to the villages.

In the fall of 2009 Fusion Community established a partnership with Noronah, and Grace Foundation Nepal and began working to raise awareness and finances for micro-loans and a water filtration system for one of the villages. In September 2010 Madan “Prince” Shah, president of Grace Foundation, and his wife Sophie, visited us from Nepal. Inspired by Madan’s story of giving up his place in the Royalty class to follow the way of Jesus, and through realizing how our most common gifts of education, basic first aid, and biblical knowledge can make a lasting impact on the villages, we decided to invest more into our friendship and partnership with Grace Foundation. In 2011 we took our first trip to Nepal to serve and build bridges between our two communities. Read reflections from the trip. We look forward to learning and growing through our ongoing relationship with Grace foundation, of gaining a better understanding of the needs of the developing villages, and inspiring and sharing our experience and resources to assist in the work of Grace Foundation.