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As Anuradha Biswa Karma waits for her grade-four textbooks in an obscure part of the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal, little does she know that there is someone working in Berkeley to send her the money to buy them. 

Like Anuradha, there are 125 other children at Modern Preparatory Secondary School in Itahari, a town sandwiched between Kathmandu and Dharan, who depend on restaurateur Rajen Thapa for their education every month. 

“Itahari is but a tiny dot in the world map,” said Thapa, who owns Taste of the Himalayas in North Berkeley. “But I want to make each of these children a world-class citizen. I want to give them the confidence and the means to become successful.” 

Thapa is not the only business owner in North Berkeley who wants to make a difference in the lives of economically challenged children. There are others, such as the brother and sister duo of Narong and Tuanchai Sapsuwan, of the organic restaurant Thai Delight on Shattuck Avenue , who send money back to Tak, Thailand to support Karenese children every year. 

And then there is David Hahn, who has joined Thapa and the Sapsuwans to host a fundraising dinner and performance on April 26 in Berkeley that will benefit hundreds of children all over the world. 

“For me, nutrition is the most important thing children need,” said Sapsuwan, founder of Thai Delight, who goes by the name A. “If they don’t have nutrition, good clothes on their body and a warm place to sleep in, how will they study?” 

A, an immigrant from Bangkok, started her career as a waitress at Berkeley’s Plearn Thai Cuisine 20 years ago. “It was hard work,” she said, “but it helped me save money to open my own restaurant in Berkeley.” A handed over ownership of Thai Delight to her brother Narong Sapsuwan last year.  

Narong, 43, started off as a wood exporter and co-founded the Joint Venture Company in Bangkok, which exported woodchips to Japan, where he worked as director and general manager for more than a decade. 

“I came to make my fortune in this land of opportunity and freedom,” his sister told the Planet outside Thai Delight Friday. “But I am always reminded that there are so many people in this world who still need help and support. I don’t have any children of my own, and I want to give each of these Karenese children the same opportunity that came my way.” 

The Karenese, a minority group who call the mountain ranges at the border of Thailand and Myanmar their home, are fighting the rule of the Myanmar government for over four decades. 

“It was my brother Dr. Vachara Sapsuwan who told me about these kids when he went to take care of them five years ago,” said A. “They don’t have medicines, or clothes and live in deplorable conditions. We want to teach them organic farming for self-sustenance but first we have to feed them. There are 200 Karenese children in Tak right now, $2 can feed seven children per day.” 

Some ten thousand miles away in El Salvador, 9-year old Walter Rodriguez is getting fed, clothed and educated because 63-year-old David Hahn wants him to see him happy.  

“I look back at my life and all the experiences I have had and I want to give back to those who have had no access all their lives,” he says. 

Hahn—a third-generation American—was born in Springfield, Minn. He went on to get his teaching credentials from Mankato University in Minnesota and moved to the Bay Area in 1989 to work in the College of Education at Cal State East Bay. 

“My outreach to the homeless began through the Berkeley-based Night on the Streets, a Dorothy Day House affiliate,” he said. “I became involved in developing countries after I met the Rev. Nestorio Agirembabazi of the Apostles of Jesus during his sabbatical year in Berkeley. After I visited Africa at his request, I became involved with the Computers for Library Project in Nairobi, Kenya.” 

Hahn hopes that the money from the fundraiser will help turn the library into a major resource center. 

“I see potential to really help change the system in Nairobi,” said Hahn. “We hope the library becomes a vehicle for that. Our goal is to construct 20 workstations. The cost of one computer in Kenya is $825. We need $18,000 to reach our goal.” 

Thapa, the mind behind the fundraiser, hopes to hand over $750 to Hahn and $1,250 to Modern Preparatory School and the Karenese children.  

Tickets for the April 26 event, which will feature dinner at Taste of the Himalayas and Thai Delight and Thai and Nepalese cultural performances at Yogakula, cost $25.  

“The money will go a long away in providing scholarships to the kids in the school,” Thapa said, pointing at pictures of students taken from the last time he was in Nepal. “$1 is 75 Nepalese rupees. That could buy 11 pounds of rice, which is a lot.” 

Thapa elaborated that $500 went to support a single student every year. The school, which was founded by Thapa in 1993 within the confines of his residence, serves 800 children. 

“I make sure that every child gets the best education,” he said. “The money that we make in fees supports the 125 children who come from the lower castes and can’t pay for themselves.” 

A scholarship student himself, Thapa was educated at a private boarding school in Darjeeling, West Bengal.  

“My parents worked in a tea garden, plucking tea leaves,” he said. “There was no way I could have become a teacher if I hadn’t received the scholarship. As a result I want to give back to the community in the same way. Allow someone else to excel and become a better person.”