HAPPENING
PEOPLE
BY PAUL NEEVEL
ANNA HOWE
“I had a great childhood,” says seventh-generation Mainer Anna Howe,
who grew up in Cape Elizabeth, a short walk from the ocean. She slept in a
tent all summer, skied in the winter and garnered more merit badges than
any other Girl Scout in the country. Later, she studied business at nearby
Westbrook College, ski-bummed in Colorado and protested the Vietnam War
by helping draft resisters move to Canada. She also moved to Canada, was
married twice, raised two sons and homesteaded off the grid for 14 years in
Nova Scotia. “We worked all the time, no skiing,” she says. “We raised
animals, made cheese and butter, and bartered with the food we raised.”
She moved to Ohio and a third marriage in 1981, and got back to hiking,
skiing and travel adventures. “Our last adventure was Nepal in 1994,” she
says. “Six months later, I moved to Nepal with only a backpack.” She rented
a flat in Katmandu, but spent months away in remote areas. “I befriended a
family in the mountains and fostered their young daughter for 12 years,”
she says. “I was like a second mom.” After three years of work for an
international organization that rescues trafficked children, she was
contacted in 2006 by Conor Grennan, whose 2010 bestseller Little Princes
would detail child trafficking in Nepal. Grennan needed guidance in setting
up a nonprofit. Today, Howe is executive director of that organization, Next
Generation Nepal, based in Katmandu’s U.S. sister city, Eugene. NGN’s other
office, in Katmandu, is staffed by Nepalis. To date, NGN has reconnected
almost 300 children with their families, but 15,000 kids remain in abusive
orphanages. Learn more and get involved at nextgenerationnepal.org.
CELEBRATING 20 YEARS
IN REAL ESTATE
“We would certainly recommend Tim to
anyone buying a home.”
“Thanks for your great attitude every
step of the way.”
Tim Verkler
Cell - 541-554-0910 • timverkler@gmail.com • www.eugeneproperties.net
My #GoodLifeGoal:
keep it local
I want my money to stay right
here in Eugene. That’s why I chose
SELCO as my fi nancial home—as a
not-for-profi t, they invest back into
the community I love so much.
selco.org • 800-445-4483 • Branches throughout Eugene and Springfi eld
Banking | Mortgages | Insurance | Investments | Business Lending
Membership requirements apply. See SELCO for details. NMLS#402847
eugeneweekly.com • October 19, 2017
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