151 kathmandu nepal a city nestled in the shadow of the himalayas is a mecca for mountain climbers and spiritual seekers alike its also a major hub for travelers socalled voluntourists socially conscious travelers who are drawn in by the opportunity to give something back to the impoverished country one of the poorest on earth the chance to volunteer in one of nepals many orphanages or childrens homes attracts voluntourists from around the world its part of the new and booming billiondollar global voluntourism industry especially popular with american teenagers taking a gap year before heading off to college there are dozens of websites that sell volunteer trips to everywhere from uganda to china to costa rica offering visitors both an opportunity to help the less fortunate and a vacation far from the beaten path moira waterfall was 29 years old when she took a trekking vacation in nepal instead of being placed through a voluntourism travel agency she said she heard about an orphanage called happy home from some fellow hikers it had all sounded really positive and as an elementary school teacher i was always interested in volunteering she said waterfall decided to teach english at the orphanage under the supervision of the owner bishwa archarya she says she fell in love with the kids there and so she made her own fundraising website to help happy home raise money from outside donors back in the us then one day a shocking encounter changed everything waterfall said she was out for a jog when she ran into one of the children from the orphanage with a woman old enough to be her mother the woman was hysterical saying to waterfall auntie auntie bishwas a bad man waterfall said you know trying to explain to me what happened but really upset and in broken english i didnt understand what was happening moira waterfall was 29 years old when she decided to teach english at the orphanage happy home in nepal until she had a shocking encounter with one of the orphans t show more abc news waterfall said she was having difficulty understanding who the woman was to my knowledge the majority of these children were orphans she said on happy homes website the girl was described as an abandoned street child but waterfall said the girl told her that this was her mother she started explaining to me that bishwa was stealing their stuff that bishwa was physically abusing them that he would hit them with plastic pipes all kinds of horrible things waterfall said i was shocked i was absolutely shocked horrified disgusted waterfall said she personally had raised 4000 for happy home and said her fellow volunteers had raised tens of thousands more the conditions were so poor considering that they were all sponsored and the amount of money we were all putting in she said word spread among the volunteers who helped bring a case against bishwa archarya he was found guilty