Hello and welcome to the Essential Training Podcast with me, Brian Kingston and my dad, Ian Kingston.
At Essential Training, we work with individuals and teams to help them reach more of their potential so that they and their organisation reap the benefits.
In this podcast, we chat with some amazing people who have extraordinary stories and I hope you enjoy. This episode is brought to you by Fodsail Saunas.
Fodsail is the Irish for long life, and they were Ireland's first commercial sauna service set up in 2019.Their mission is to communicate, educate, and inspire people on the benefits of sauna and cold bathing.
And their vision is to enhance the well-being of the people of Ireland and further afield, and to give people more healthy lifestyle choices.They have locations in Greystones, Galway, and Clontarf Rugby Club in Ireland.
And I am a regular user of the sauna.I go down once or twice a week.They're only down the road from us.
And they have set up an amazing community there, where you've got the sauna, you've got Rise of the Cove coffee, right in the midst of Tiglin, which is Ireland's oldest addiction treatment center clinic.
So you've got a real mix of people and mindsets and
I go down there, I spend 15 minutes in the sauna, step outside, cool down, go back for another 15 minutes and then I usually pop down to the sea, spend a couple of minutes in the sea depending on how brave I feel that day.
And afterwards I always feel rejuvenated, energized and sometimes I'll pop in for a coffee at Rise of the Cove and I just love bumping into people down there and there's an amazing community.
And Steve says this, and I felt it as well, it's kind of like the vibe of a pub without the alcohol.You go down with friends, you can go down alone, you can bump into people, you can stay on your own, and it's just this amazing.
vibe and amazing community of people.So we're so happy to be sponsored by Fadsale and long may it last and we're excited to see where this partnership goes.
So thanks Steve and your team for Fadsale Saunas for sponsoring the podcast and go check them out on their Instagram or on their website.
I would hope that we would challenge people just by being who we are. Not by having a particular view, or not by saying we're left, right, centre, up, down, in, out, but just by being who we are, that someone would stop and go, really?What?
Question what's behind it?What are they at?Are you happy all the time?Are you getting on?Do you really fight?Whatever.Or is life that way?Or is that really how business operates?Or whatever.
It's funny, I saw a meme online, a little article, Sriracha, you know, the hot sauce.
And the person that, the company that supplied all the peppers, supplied them for, I don't know, it says something like 20 years, they had a sole contract to supply all the peppers for Sriracha.And they did it on a handshake, there was no contracts.
And when you start talking about that, I hear that type of story in my head going, That is the way business can be done sometimes, on trust and on... Totally.
It's amazing, yeah.In a bad way, what it brings up for me, I just saw a thing this morning.
So one, I'm away last week and one of the people on the trip was just saying that a friend of theirs grows food for one of the chains and doesn't eat that food.They sort of grow vegetables. But they don't eat the vegetables they grow for the chain.
They eat the vegetables they grow for themselves.No way.Because the vegetables they grow for the chain are so pesticide and so manipulated, they wouldn't touch them.In Ireland?Yeah. When I hear that, I only hear something that would be in America.
And then the thing, what just added to that, then the thing from America was the potato that McDonald's use for their chips, like are a particular type of long grain potato that comes from the States.
But like, it's a skanky spot, like that's full of stuff, no normal spot.But that's not the way McDonald's take it.So to produce one of them, in the way that McDonald's want them.It has to be pesticide destroyed.Yeah.
So again, so it's like the madness of kind of... And you know, people, you know, America with obesity and all that stuff, after living in Vancouver and getting a taste of North America, excused the pun, it was very hard to eat healthy.
It was very expensive to eat healthy.And Often when I thought I was eating something healthy, it was actually something that was heavily processed, chemicalized, salt, sugar, and like it makes me...
I think sometimes in Europe and Ireland, we have a bit of disdain for American culture sometimes now, which is interesting, because when I was a teenager in the 90s, it was like the heyday of America.
But I think we have a bit of disdain for parts of American culture, parts of like, you know, the obesity, the lack of education, the myopic American center of everything.And, you know, you look at, vast troves of uneducated Americans, obese.
And then after living there for a while, I thought, wow, it's actually really easy to end up like that when your food is vastly manipulated and to eat healthy is really expensive.
Like if I wanted to go eat healthy and I went to Whole Foods, my weekly shop would be like $500.Like that was not sustainable.
And it just gave me a bit more, like, I suppose, empathy for... Totally.
I totally get that.I think what we're, again, what I'm starting to understand at this hour in my life is kind of what's behind the veil.
Because I grew up, you grew up American-centric, we grew up totally dreaming of the American dream, thinking that was the greatest thing ever.What's become apparent now is that a lot of that is commercialized, is processed, is whatever.
So having been away last week, I was saying to people away, it's a lovely little island we have, with all the mad stuff that goes on. So you were in Nepal?
We were in Nepal.And we were only saying yesterday because we've both been away to Nepal many times together and coming back is always very interesting.
Ireland feels so clean and organized and I remember when Rabin, one of the teachers from one of the schools in Nepal came back with us and we were driving down the road on the first day he was here and he said, where's all the people?
because we were driving on the N7 or something.And because in Nepal, everyone's just everywhere all the time.Everyone's outside all the time.There's so many people and... Or Ram Hari saying, what makes the traffic lights work?And yeah, so...
And bring that back to what you started with, with the American, the process and how easy our heart is.Like we're blessed here, what we can do.
Part of the conversation that happened one night with one of our travellers was, she was explaining to me how her friend is a market gardener and they grow commercially hugely.
And she was kind of, she was giving out about the fact that we think that veg should be for nothing. you know, like to your point about it being very expensive, it's like in our grocery shopping, veggies, like is the bottom of the list price wise.
And she was talking about getting organic and organic in Ireland is more expensive, but like there's nothing like what you're talking about in the US.
And just this, like how blessed we are that we can get at that and that Europe, you know, I'm looking at the shop on the weekend and I'm looking at We're just looking at where do my onions come from?Where do my peppers come from?
You know, they're Holland, you know, which means it has to travel.But it's like, you know, it could get to me from Amsterdam or Rotterdam nearly as quickly as it could get from Cork to Dublin. different when it's coming from Guatemala or somewhere.
I had to have gone into something to keep it coming that distance.So yeah, so we're blessed and it's just, it then kind of opens up for me when you start to see, you know, what's meant to be good for you and what, you know, what I'm only learning.
And I've been learning about the fuel going into my body, the fuel going into my mind, how effective it can be when it's good and how the opposite it can be when it's not good.
And how little has been put to that in terms of our conditioning around the fuel we put on and put in.
We talk about obesity, that's one obvious trait, but like just our brain power and our thinking and our attention spanning and all of that, when the food isn't right.
Yeah, so that's what was coming up for me out in Nepal, in simple terms, because we go to Nepal and it's a very staple, as you know, it's kind of dal and cauliflower, a bit of rice, cauliflower, do you want a bit of chicken?
You might get a little sprinkle of chicken. but mostly veg and more and more there's the western influence of food coming in to suit that you can get when you go to a restaurant.
But our main meals are during the day and when we're out is a bit of rice and a bit of cauliflower.
And what's the significance of that?
It's the simplicity of it and the lack of
the lack of pesticiding and lack of madness going on around stuff is literally we're up the mountain and it's being pulled from the earth right next to us and from the growth that's happening right outside the front door.
Our children that we work with.So we have 70 children in our care.We have a vegetable garden and that fully sustains vegetables all year round, pretty much.So
Nepal and Indrani, you mentioned 70 children in the care of Indrani.So there's two children's homes and multiple schools, a vegetable garden.I mean, it's amazing, Varun Hari, who this was his kind of project going back, what, 15, 20 years ago?
Started with taking three kids who were glue sniffing off the streets. Because he was raised in a children's home himself.He was.Well, he left his own family home about 70 kilometers outside of Kathmandu, up a mountain.
He left his home at eight years of age, walked out nine, because his parents were fighting. And I mean, they're living on the side of a mountain, on the side of a hill, in a shack, farming.
So it's just not great, not a great existence, like proper hand-to-moat stuff.And then he walks into Kathmandu, takes him three days to get there, because he had no money to get on a bus, if there was a bus going.
And he ends up in slave labor, working in a carpet, factory where you're making carpet all day and you get to be fed and sleep on the premises as your pay.
And there was a Swiss lady whose dad had set up a children's home and Harry witnessed them, witnessed the kids going to school. and started asking her.And if you remember, then we did the interview with her.
Yeah, I'll put the link to that interview in the show notes.So it was really interesting to hear her, give her side of the story, having heard from Ram Hari for the last 17 years or whatever.
And she was even more dramatic in the way the story unfolded.Like he's at 10 years of age at this stage, he's begging her to get into the house and she's saying no. You're a street kid and you're too conditioned.Too old.
No, not old even, just conditioned to be who you are.We won't be able to change you.You'll mess up our kids.But he got in.As she said, he just persisted and got in and got through school and then supported his brother in there.
His dream then, through all that, having come out the other side of that, was to help kids.He was back working with her in Rokpa, having gone doing travel agency, and they were full.And the situation in Kathmandu was pretty grim.
And lots of kids walking around sniffing bags of glue, like living in rubbish and sniffing bags of glue.Shock and stuff.He met Keith Maloney on a trek and told Keith that this is what he's aiming to do.
So Keith gave him literally his watch and shoes and anything that he could cash in for a few bob, as well as any money he had on him. And then when he came back, he called to me and said, would you be up for setting up a charity on it?
If I set up a charity.And I said, I would.So myself, himself and Lorraine, who worked with him, were the trustees on it to begin with.And then that spread out.And that was the beginning of it.
My marry took three kids off the street, went into five, and then pretty quickly it was like, okay, there's loads more here.And we said, We'd fund him doing it underground.And he rented rooms, then rented a house.Boom, the story goes on.
So you'd see it all on the website if you want to see it.Phenomenal.So we've over, nearly 50 kids now have graduated through the process.And that's amazing to see.
So while I was out there, this time, I didn't meet any of the kids, no sorry, I did meet the kids who graduated us, mad, because we're working with them.
So we had four or five of the lads who are now teaching in the school and one guy who's gone out and does IT and comes back in and does the IT for us and a number of companies that are associated with us. He's married and has a child.
Then you have Prakash, who's our in-house IT guy, but is helping in the charity as well.You have Eubresh, who's teaching up the mountain.
Rabin, who's our main, our first graduate, who's one of the head teachers now in our big secondary school, our big plus two school.
they were all around brilliant but we had two calls two of the mornings were out there to Australia two faith times the two of the kids who've graduated and gone on are now studying one in Melbourne and one in Canberra no one in Sydney one in Canberra and one doing IT one doing case studies fending for themselves happy as a pig in out there delightful life now that's outside of
border girls versus two girls in Sydney, another girl in Melbourne, all doing different things.
And the context there is in Kathmandu they might not have parents, or they might come from rural villages that have broken homes, or they might be in situations where they couldn't afford to be educated, and Ramhari
through either being referred to them or seeing them on the street or friends of friends, families who have kids who have a cousin.He took them in and currently there's 70 kids being educated in two homes and a school.
And the great thing now is that government agencies are now starting to refer kids to us.Yeah.When I say the great thing is, it just shows like we have been added a number of times.We're in the system.Yeah.
We're clean, we have a clean bill of health, and we're being recognized as a go-to.That's a real stamp of approval.
And also, yeah, just the homes.I wasn't on this trip, but, you know, all being run by women as well is really significant, and Ramhari's family and his wife is involved.So what did the trip look like, just for anybody who hasn't been there?
This is our volunteer trip. which we do on Halloween.And it was a mixture of parents with their normally transition year children.So we had two transition year girls, one with her mom and dad and the other with her mom.We had a storyteller, Senam.
We had a bike fixer extraordinaire, Jankar. And we had Kevin and his son, Kevin, our financier, accountant, guardian, and his son Calvin, middle son.
We had two business guys then, Paul, who is a senior corporate lawyer, and Connor, who is a financier. They both had been to Nepal 20-odd years ago.So this is a return visit for him.They had been out there on a trek, and they were fantastic.
So a really eclectic mix.And as those on the group would have said, when you send in the airport and you meet people for the first time, you're thinking, what's going to happen here?How is this going to work?You have a mixture of ages.
teenage kids, you have young bucks, you have middle-aged lads who think they're young bucks, you have women who you're thinking, God, what hardship are you going to walk into?All of that, all that mix.And of course, it turns out we're people.
We're having met brand new friends who will be friends for life and had experiences that'll be shared forever.Fantastic.And the kids are the glue in the middle of all of that.
You know, I was saying that to both of the girls independently, you know, I was saying, you know, just stick with this for the day or two while we're traveling and getting accustomed to the place.
Because once you see the kids, all inhibition will drop and then it will open up because the kids just take away all the all the rules about how you should be behaving and how you should be conforming.
Because they're full of love, they're laughing, they're singing, they're joking.And so that's exactly what happens.And it's fabulous to see everyone gets their own experience of that.
So it's not like, oh, we're in such a tight group that things can only happen in a group.You see people kids gravitating towards certain type of people and messing and playing and in and out around the group.
And I'm just creating enough time for them to be in the group so that they get to see and know the kids and come back around to that again.So yeah, so it's fantastic.
We have just built a new school, which will, it's three stories over basement, basement being for parking and all of that.The three stories are, are pretty much complete, but we have planning for another 30 on top of that.So we can go on forever.
I currently have 550 kids in that school with a facility for 1,100 as it currently stands. So this trip we had 12 going out, 12 mules, me being one of them.
We took two computers each, which our client Karn had donated to us, which is fantastic, and they have more to come.So we set up this computer room in the new school and we're off and running, which is great.So
Yeah, so it's just one thing borrows another, one thing connects to another, and on it goes.
Any takeaways from this trip?What are some of your takeaways from this trip?
Every day is a school day.I learned how to do subtraction in a way that I've never done subtraction.Because we take the kids shopping, as you know, on their last day, and
This time I just started, I had some of the lads, so we started a new thing now that I'm going to, that myself and Ram Harri have discussed as a result of using the shopping to be far more educational.
so that once the kids are over like six or seven, they start to understand and they start to compute exactly what they're spending, not being told, but they have to work it out on a little piece of paper.
So that was great fun, watching the lads clicking in, because they have a sense of what they want, like, and then, hold on a second, like, you know, so you can do that and get that belt as well, because you don't have enough.
Yeah, and the takeaways, takeaways are just always amazing.Takeaways, oh, be in the flow, things happen, you know, it's the same as life, it's the same as business, it's the same as anything.
You've got to put yourself into the arena and things will happen.So We have a brand new school, which we were told by the most educated of financiers, we were stupid to even think of doing a number of years ago.
And that if we had any sense, the best thing to do would be to raise money, be renting places as we go and drive on.Which in part is why we set a goal to educate 10,000 children.So that we had an art star to aim for.
And then we just built a school anyway.And it defies logic, as does owning the two homes.I mean, when we rented a room first for the kids, you know, about 2007, 17 years ago now, you know, it was like, who decided to go up to this?
We'd been renting vegetable plots forever.And who'd have said that we'd be self-sustaining through those vegetable plots, to be giving our children good, nourishing vegetables?It happens.
Who'd have said that we'd have refurbished Ram Hari's home that he donated after the earthquake, donated to the charity, his family, original family home, which had cracked down the middle.But we rebuilt it.
And then through Sean Cairn in Galway and his help, the horticulturalists, you know, that side of the mountain is now planted with fruit trees and vegetables and
The local farmers are being educated in the diversity of new crops and crops that harvest at different times of the year and that replenish the earth and, you know, a whole myriad of things, helping them to become self-sustained, bringing water up to that village.
Like only five years ago, they used to spend an hour going down the mountain and an hour and a half, two hours coming back up with water.
and how they've run in water, which means that the fields are irrigated, which means that the crops grow better, which, you know, add education to that.And you're watching that unfold.And it's humbling.
So the takeaway is that always, it's just amazing to see how things move and continue to move if you just put yourself in the way of it.
All that and then come back to Ireland and you get a completely new perspective on top of that as well on what we have.
Oh, fantastic.What we have is amazing and I love what we have.I love being in Ireland.I love my family.I love what it's about.So it's not like trying to make one thing something else and I love going to Nepal.I love what we do in Nepal.
But if I couldn't go tomorrow, well then I wouldn't be able to go tomorrow and you just move on.So I'm not trying to be a part of making Nepal something else or bringing it to somewhere else.
Well, that's one of the things I really love about it is Ram Hari and his team, his Nepali team are running it.I think that's significant.It's not Irish people coming in with Western money dictating what should happen.
It's Nepali people realizing that there's a need for kids and women specifically to be educated and to be fed with nourishing organic food and then them deciding what to do with those donations from Ireland and from Switzerland and Germany.Yeah.
Yeah, it's fantastic.And humbling.
You know, when you see the kids, how they behave, when you see how they're maturing, when you see how they look out for each other, and the simple things like when we take them shopping, the thing that blows the Irish adults away every single time is, wow, how they look after each other.
Yeah.How they don't fight, how there's no grabbing, how there's
it's equal participation, how they all make sure, you know, how generally, you know, even Anjuna, our eldest girl in the home, she was, we apply an elder to each bunch of kids to be with the Whitey.And so she's there, 16, just gone on 17.
And she had made out her names just really quickly on a piece of paper, like a spreadsheet. She's filling it and making sure to the penny, but to the extent like she no intention of shopping for herself, like that wasn't her job, which is typical.
And all of the kids in Nepal?Yeah, just typical of them.And I'm watching that happening since I went out there first with Keith, Keith Maloney, back in the day, back in 2009, 10.And we did that, and it was even more mayhem then.
Now we're a bit more organized in terms of how we bring up shopping and where we go then.It was just like scattergun.We'd head off with kids, they could take you anywhere.
Yes, it's lovely, lovely, the kids growing and seeing them, seeing just the genuine
care that the older kids who are now young adults and who've matured and graduated and gone on to university and have come back and some of them are working through the charity now and see how they care and what they're giving back in is phenomenal and who others have gone and that's the brilliant thing as well there is no there's no sense of we gave you this so you should be back here giving us back
It's the opposite.It's like, get ready.
Once you're 16, 17 and you're on to your leaving search cycle, get ready to be independent because we're going to be helping you to be in independent living for the two years of your college cycle, your leaving search cycle.
And once you go to university, we'll help you and support you with that if it's university, but you're going to have to get a job to be certain yourself.
And it's cool to see some kids, as you said, going to Australia, going to the UK, emigrating and building a life for themselves in a developed country, and other kids who decide They want to stay in Nepal.
The kids who decide they actually want to give back to the organisation and work there because of the opportunities that they were given.
And it's amazing, like, since I was first out there and seeing mainly the lads who are all teachers now in the school, who were teenagers when I first met them, now being leaders in the school and to the kids.Yeah.Phenomenal, phenomenal.
Well, there you have it.Thank you for listening to this week's episode of the Essential Training Podcast with me, Brian Kingston, and my dad, Ian Kingston.
As dad says, hope it brought something up for you and gave you a chance to reflect on your own work and your own life.We'll see you again next Thursday.
And as always, we're open to any feedback or suggestions you might have, what you liked about it, what you think could be better. Maybe some suggestions for guests, suggestions for topics as well.
So thanks a million for listening and we will see you or you'll hear us next week.Well, there you have it.Thank you for listening to this week's episode of the essential training podcast with me, Brian Kingston and my dad, Ian Kingston.
As dad says, hope it brought something up for you and gave you a chance to reflect on your own work and your own life.We'll see you again next Thursday.
And as always, we're open to any feedback or suggestions you might have, what you liked about it, what you think could be better, maybe some suggestions for guests, suggestions for topics as well.
So thanks a million for listening and we will see you or you'll hear us next week.
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