Olga Murray
Olga Murray | |
---|---|
![]() Olga Murray in Nepal with NYF-sponsored children | |
Born | June 1, 1925 Transylvania, Romania |
Died | February 20, 2024 Sausalito, California, U.S. |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Columbia University, George Washington University |
Occupation(s) | Lawyer, activist |
Known for | Founder and president of the Nepal Youth Foundation |
Olga Murray (June 1, 1925 - February 20, 2024) was a retired lawyer and the founder and president of the Nepal Youth Foundation (NYF), a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that provides education, health care, human rights, and housing for disadvantaged children in Nepal. The Nepal Youth Foundation was formerly known as the Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation or NYOF.[1][2]
Career in Law
Born in 1925 in
Involvement with Nepal
Olga Murray first visited Nepal in 1984. After seeing the terribly impoverished condition of the children in the villages, she resolved that she would return to help them. On another trip to Nepal in 1987, Murray broke her ankle. Upon returning to Kathmandu, she was treated by a young doctor who had just opened a small hospital for poor, very disabled children, where all care was free and of a high standard. Through this connection, she began giving scholarships to disabled children who had no way of getting to school in their villages, and needed to come to Kathmandu for boarding school.[7] As the number of scholarships grew, she decided to start a foundation that would help these kids in an organized way.
The Nepal Youth Foundation
In 1990, she founded the Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation (NYOF), a nonprofit organization registered in the United States, to provide the most impoverished children of Nepal with education, housing, medical care, and human rights. The organization later changed its name to Nepal Youth Foundation, or NYF. NYF leverages the money from developed countries to maximize the aid for these children. In addition to scholarships for children who live in Kathmandu and rural Nepal, from grammar school to medical school, NYF implements a range of other programs to help Nepali children. For example, NYF's Indentured Daughters Program rescues girls from being sold as bonded servants and pays for them to attend school.[8] The Nutritional Rehabilitation Homes restore severely malnourished children to full health while educating their mothers in child care and nutrition. NYF also operates a children's home in Kathmandu named Olgapuri Village.[9]
Olga Murray died at her home in Sausalito, California on 20 February 2024.[10] The focus of her time in her later years was raising funds for NYF's programs.[11]
Recognition
Olga Murray has been honored with several awards for the Nepal Youth Foundation's accomplishments. In 2001, the Dalai Lama gave her the Unsung Heroes of Compassion Award. In 2002, she received a medal from the King of Nepal to honor her work with the children of Nepal.[12] Murray was honored by the World of Children as a 2005 finalist. The Nepal Youth Foundation was a finalist in the 2005 GlobalGiving Marketplace on Borderless Giving. Also in 2005, NYF was awarded the California Association of Nonprofits' Award of Excellence for its innovative Indentured Daughters Program. In 2006, Murray won the grand prize for the Mannington "Stand on a Better World" Award.[13][14]
Olga Murray's achievements with the Nepal Youth Foundation have been featured repeatedly in the media, including appearances on
Notes
- ^ Sandomir, Richard (12 March 2024). "Olga Murray, Who Changed the Lives of Children in Nepal, Dies at 98". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
- ^ Ghimire, Sujana (21 February 2024). "Olga Murray, NYF founder, passes away". Desh Sanchar. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
- ^ ELDR Magazine, February 20, 2008. Retrieved on April 20, 2009
- ^ "Sausalito woman helps make better lives for Nepalese children", j., August 22, 2008. Retrieved on January 9, 2014
- ^ San Francisco Chronicle, July 22, 2008. Retrieved on April 20, 2009
- ^ California Lawyer Magazine, February 2009. Retrieved on April 20, 2009
- ^ San Francisco Chronicle, February 8, 2009. Retrieved on April 20, 2009
- ^ Encore.org, March 4, 2009. Retrieved on April 20, 2009
- ^ VOA News, February 2, 2009. Retrieved on April 20, 2009
- ^ Legacy.com, February 27, 2024
- ^ Marin Magazine Archived 2008-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, September 2008. Retrieved on April 20, 2009
- ^ San Francisco Chronicle, February 8, 2009. Retrieved on April 20, 2009
- ^ Marin Independent Journal, December 2, 2006. Retrieved on April 20, 2009
- ^ Marinscope Newspaper, November 28, 2006. Retrieved on April 20, 2009
- ^ NOW on PBS, April 4, 2008. Retrieved on April 20, 2009
- ^ ABC World News, July 6, 2008. Retrieved on April 20, 2009
- ^ San Francisco Chronicle, February 8, 2009. Retrieved on April 20, 2009