Jerry and Judy Golphenee, two of the directors of Children of Kathmandu, moved to Nepal in 1996. From almost the moment they arrived, they started asking themselves how they could do something to help the desperately poor people of this impoverished country. 
 
They soon realized that the answer was in front of them on the streets of their neighborhood.  At the corner down the block from their home, they saw every day an eight-year old boy who worked twelve hours a day washing dishes in front of a restaurant.  They met a Nepali who told them about a five-year old boy who had been born in prison and would remain there until he was sixteen, unless someone found him a place to live.  They found a ten-year old boy living on the streets of Kathmandu because he had run away from the brutal shopkeeper to whom his mother had sold him when he was eight.  They learned that the young girl living with her parents two houses from them was being abused by her alcoholic father. 
 
And so, one child at a time, they began to make arrangements to provide these and other children with the basics of life and, most importantly, with the means to receive an education.
 
To provide a framework for this endeavor, Children of Kathmandu, Inc. was founded in 1999.  This 501(c)(3) organization is based in Montana where Jerry and Judy lived before moving to Nepal.  Administrative and fundraising overhead is kept at a minimum.  No salaries are paid.  Since 1999, ninety-one percent of the corporation's income has been spent on the direct needs of the children.
 
At present Children of Kathmandu is providing education in private schools for thirty-eight destitute Nepali children.  Many of these children would be living on the streets, in prisons or in other unspeakably miserable circumstances were it not for the presence of Children of Kathmandu in their lives.  None of them would have been able to attend school.  The private schools these children attend are not elite institutions, but the quality of education in these schools is superior to the sub-standard education provided by government schools.  Even the government schools require the payment of a small amount of tuition, and this nominal sum is beyond the reach of thousands of Nepali parents. 
 
Twenty-one of Children of Kathmandu's students live in dormitories associated with their particular school.  For these young people, Children of Kathmandu pays for tuition, books, uniforms, clothing, board, room, medical and miscellaneous expenses.  The other twenty-one children live at home with their parents.  For these children, tuition, books, uniforms, and clothing are provided.  For a small number of children who live at home an additional amount of money per month is provided to help the parents (or parent) provide a slightly better standard of living for the children than would otherwise be possible.