A teenager’s idea to reduce poverty has developed into a sponsorship project attracting interest abroad.

In Shantipur, Nepal, which is the hometown of President Ram Baran Yadav, on March 9, a groundbreaking ceremony was held to build a school.

The event kicked off the Nepal School of Hope Project by Good Way With Us, a Web portal where adolescents propose ideas for a better world and seek sponsorship. 

The project was inspired by 17-year-old Won Sung-jun, a student at Taft High School in Connecticut, U.S., who had visited Nepal and wanted to help reduce illiteracy and poverty in the country.

The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by the president’s son Chandra Mohan Yadav and Nepalese government officials, according to Good Way With Us.

Its sponsors presented stationery, toys, soccer balls and sportswear to students and residents there as gifts.

Through the project, they will establish hygienic toilets and running water facilities, while providing school furniture, supplies, uniforms and medicine.

A day after the ceremony, President Yadav invited Good Way with Us manager Won and others to his office.

“I am moved by the Nepal School of Hope Project which started with one teenager’s idea,” Yadav said, according to Good Way With Us. “I am convinced that the project will be of a great help to the development of education in Nepal.“

The president added that he would continue exchanges with Won.

“We will continue to support Nepal for the next four years. I am truly grateful that an idea I got from my volunteer activities came to reality and I will continue to help,” Won said. For the last four years, he saved up his pocket money to support Nepalese nurses.

Celebrities including Psy, Big Bang, 2NE1 and Baek Ji-young have joined the project as donation mentors.

For more information, visit www.goodwaywithus.co.kr or crowdfunding site www.incujector.com.

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)