Odyssey films was founded by director/producer Rory Herbert and writer/producer Veronica Layunta Maurel who, together with their background in TV and film and fiction writing, came together with the aim of telling inspiring stories of peoples journey's through life. BUTTERFLY WINGS is their first production.
We first came across Eva and her work when interviewing musicians Deva Premal, Miten and Manose while on concert in Brussels. By then Eva and her charity, The Society of Street Children of Nepal were already very well established in Kathmandu and Nepal and after the earthquakes of 2015 Deva, Miten and Manose set up an initiative called the Gayatri Fund and approached Eva to help them with logistics to rebuild a school in a small village in the Himalayas called Rathankot, she later became the director of the Gayatri Fund initiative. But it was from this that we learned of her work with The Society of Street Children of Nepal and her inspiring story of building this charity from scratch, by herself, from her own money. Last year I was lucky enough to go out and spend a month with Eva and the girls in the homes. I was I was amazed by what Eva's accomplished. These girls came into her care from a life of neglect and abuse and many have deep emotional wounds but she, along with a team she has put together, have cared for, nurtured and educated these wonderful girls. Eva has also given education opportunities to many girls from remote villages, who are now training to be nurses and doctors so they in turn can give back. A legacy has been born.
What struck us, most was that this is one woman who learned of the horrible situation of child prostitution in Nepal and the countless other cases of neglect and abuse and decided she could do something about it, she could make a difference and she went out and did it. She started it all by herself, with her own money, her own free time and all the while holding down a full time job back in Sweden. That's the most inspirational part of her story; so many times we all say we'd like to help more, to do more charitable things but we say don't have the time. She proves it's possible. She is doing such amazing work, loving work and she is succeeding and we feel her story deserves to be heard and inspire as many people as possible.
We want this to be the first in a long line of inspirational stories of seemingly ordinary people doing the most extraordinary things. We want to show that one person can make a difference, that even the smallest acts of kindness can ripple through space and time and change the world forever.