TWE Spotlight: Changemaker Maggie Doyne on the Healing Power of Love, Home and Hope for Humanity

Maggie Doyne:

Over the 17 years that I’ve lived and worked in Surkhet, we have deep stories of love to tell. I am proud of our family, our organization, and I’m grateful our story of love was told and captured so beautifully. 

What can’t humanitarian Maggie Doyne inspire or achieve?

In 2013 TWE discovered and interviewed Maggie Doyne, an amazing young changemaker. We were intrigued with the 2007 New Jersey high school graduate who decided to stay in Nepal rather than go to college after she witnessed the extreme poverty children and women live in. She even covered education and home costs for one struggling young girl she met on a roadside.

With every nickel she’d saved from babysitting along with Nepali Tope Malla and the Surkhet community, they pooled their resources and co-founded Kopila Valley School and Home and the BlinkNow Foundation to serve the needs of the children. Fast forward to 2024 when they are not just educating 425 students. Women are being trained in baking. teaching, tunnel farming, electrical work and more.

TWE followed up with Maggie, who became a 2015 CNN Hero, in a podcast when her memoir, Between the Mountain and the Sky came out. Now Maggie has a documentary about her remarkable journey, which chronicles how it’s not always been easy, gut-wrenching at times, but incredibly rewarding.

Maggie continues to astound TWE and me so I had to find out about her new film, Between the Mountain and the Sky, which has already won awards, and ask what could possibly be next.

EYE: Your husband, Jeremy Power Regimbal, is the Director for Between the Mountain and the Sky. Why did you both decide to do a documentary?

MAGGIE: Even before I married Jeremy, he was always documenting everything, carrying a camera around, and it felt really natural. It was such a sweet and tender time in my life, and it was wonderful that there was someone there to capture it. He also happened to be a filmmaker, and at first it was simply a way to put his skills and talents to use while he was visiting us in Nepal.

Then as we became more serious as a couple, so did the idea of a documentary film, and I’m so glad we made that bold decision. Over the 17 years that I’ve lived and worked in Surkhet, we have deep stories of love to tell. I am proud of our family, our organization, and I’m grateful our story of love was told and captured so beautifully. 

EYE: Is there a moment in the film that you feel is most important for audiences? 

MAGGIE: I loved hearing the theater burst out in laughter. There are moments of grief and intensity, but my favorite parts were the moments of levity and joy. I think it helped balance the film and made me really happy because I wanted that part of our journey captured, and when I heard the laughter I felt that it was. 

EYE: What have your kids said about the documentary?

MAGGIE: Oh, the kids cried and laughed the whole way through. We all cried together. I saw it for the first time with some of our young adults, Jeremy, and my co-founder Tope at the premiere, and it was a deeply emotional experience as a family. The kids have been talking about the healing value of seeing it together and experiencing our story through their eyes (two of them are featured in the film, because Jeremy couldn’t fit them all in!).

They said some sweet things about the example of love that we set for them. All I can say is that they have done the work. They are my heroes, and I’m so proud and overjoyed that they love the film as much as they do.

Two students from Kopila shared their thoughts on the BlinkNow blog and here is some of  what they had to say: 

Shova:

“What I loved about the movie is that it’s a perfect blend of normal things a family goes through on a daily basis coupled with the real societal challenges that the people in rural Nepal face. It’s a story about our family roots, our neighbors, classmates, teachers and anyone can connect with the story instantly. You come out of the movie feeling empowered and filled with so much love and hope for humanity.  

Kalpana:

“I mean, I know the story. I lived it and am living it but just didn’t know what was put in and what wasn’t. To see the audience moved to tears, to witness their inspiration mirrored in their tear-stained eyes, was a moment to pause and soak in the inspiration they were exuding.

“The story proved to the world that no matter how tough life gets, the bond between the family is strongly knotted. After doing each screening, we were like the stars!! People would come over and wave, take pictures, and ask questions. It was so sweet!!

“The love and warmth everyone gave filled us with gratitude, reminding us of the power of storytelling to connect, inspire, and lead a life worth documenting.”

EYE: What do you hope audiences take away?

MAGGIE: I hope people will see that loss is not the end, that the hard parts of life are not the end. Our children have been through so many difficulties, and we have been through very tough times as a family together.

Real life is ugly and hard and traumatic. I want the world to be reminded that love is the greatest healing force we have.

I just want this film to be a reminder of love and the power to heal. And if we take care of children, children take care of the community, the country, and the world. It’s really that simple.

I hope it will inspire healing and love for our human family, our children, and our planet. We all have so much more life to live, and so much love to give. We just need to go do it.

EYE: In regard to your BlinkNow Foundation, what do you think has been your greatest achievement so far in Nepal?

MAGGIE: My children are my greatest joy. To see them going out in the world and getting degrees, landing jobs that will make the world better, thriving in all areas of their lives. We set out to help one child thrive, because we know that can change the world. And I think that our kids will all change their parts of the world in their own ways.

EYE: All these years and kids later, what is your favorite thing have you learned about parenting?

MAGGIE: Oh, I’ve learned so many things! We are almost up to 90 now, if you count the kids in the Children’s Home and the young adults who still return for holidays and family events. Ninety sounds almost unbelievable. I have learned that love stretches farther than I ever thought possible.

Every time I have wondered, “How can I love any more kids? This love could run out,” I am so happy to be proven wrong – love just grows and expands as our family grows.

EYE: Under the heading of “Nothing is ever simple….” what hurdle are you most proud of overcoming?

MAGGIE: We are in a sticky stage right now, and I’m proud to be navigating it. We have children of all ages, so we and the caregiving team are working on baby care, learning to brush teeth, and homework after school, all the way up to college applications and deposits on apartments.

It is not simple to be in all of the life stages at one time, but we are finding our way through.

EYE: What is your advice to anyone who is faced with hurdles that may seem “impossible?”

MAGGIE: Keep going and don’t give up! You have a special place in the world, a need that only you can meet. We are here for such a short time, and I tell everyone that I possibly can to make the difference that you can make.

EYE: Taking a step back, does your life’s story ever seem surreal?

MAGGIE: I know that it is not the normal “American dream,” but it’s all I’ve known. When I think about the ups and downs and stories we have shared at Kopila Valley, I could have lived several lifetimes, yes. It might sound surreal to the audience who watches the film, but it’s all been very real to me, living the nitty gritty of daily life’s highs and lows.

EYE: What has surprised you most?

MAGGIE: I know Jeremy is a brilliant filmmaker, but I was completely stunned by the realness of this story. Tope said the same thing, “This is the most real story I have ever seen.”

I am in awe that Jeremy was able to capture such intimate moments, at times when we didn’t even know he was filming, to show what our family life is really like. He was in a perfect position to record us, and only he could have made this true story so real.

EYE: As your remarkable work as a humanitarian continues, will there be a documentary sequel or maybe another book?

MAGGIE: We’re going to be showing this documentary to as many people as possible first! And I’d love for the kids to write books or make their own films someday.

EYE: What is your vision for Kopila Valley going forward?

MAGGIE: We’ve made a model for community development, centered around education and including families and women’s skills training. I want to share this with the world. We are working on open-source resources so that others can replicate what we’re doing, but customized to their own communities.

EYE: Thank you, Maggie for making time to share your insights. Maggie and Jeremy, congratulations on your uplifting and moving Between the Mountain and the Sky film. More festival and screening dates will be announced on BlinkNow’s social media.

Social Media for Maggie Doyne:

Website: maggie-doyne/ blinknow.org

Instagram: @maggiedoyne

Twitter/X: @maggiedoyne

Facebook: @Maggie Doyne

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