This man was a Chepang and lives in a remote village in west central Nepal. To get to his village requires a long bus ride from Naryanghar and then a climb up through the mountains that took almost a day and was very steep. He described one section where the path went along a narrow ledge across a steep face and was very dangerous. He said that despite its remoteness his village has been approached by a group of Germans wanting to 'donate' plastic utensils including dish washing pans, wash tubs, plates, cups, spoons, knives and forks his people do not customarily use. The villager discussed the situation deciding the Germans were trying to get them dependent on the plastic and probably had done the same thing at other villages to create markets. They refused the offer (with the exception of one light blue tub one villager admantly held on to as she liked washing her dishes and clothes in it.) A year later they found out the plastic was manufactured in a way that made it very expensive to recycle and the manufacturer was trying to save money by dumping vst amounts of the plastic on the "third world".

The third world has often been used as a place to dispose of the industrial world's mistakes like the pesticide DDT, spent medicines, technologies, and all kinds of other goods that are too non-perishable.

Suvenda was also from a region west of Naryanghar. He laughed with me about his looks and said he thought he might be a descendant of African Americans living in the US. He joked with me about taking him back with me because he was sure he had relatives living in New York City.

Ram Chandra is also from a remote village (are you thinking that everyone in Nepal come from a remote village?). He's like a 'county agent', a teacher, and works with farmers in his district helping them with problems and concerns. He contributed a lot of useful information to the conference particularly in the conversations about Integrated Pest Managment and by sharing a vast knowledge of Nepali agriculture that he has acquired. Like many of the other participants he has a wonderful sense of humor.

I can't remember this young man's name but remember that he was very shy at first claiming not to know much but that by the end of the conference he "emerged" as creative and insightful and contributed a great deal to the discussions. My point in introducing the men in these photos is twofold. The first point is to say that, whatever else I have said about the Nepali men or about intellectual, academic types, they are hardly mean, ignorant people. They are bright, work hard and are personable. Like most people in the world they mean well. They aspire to the same universal values of kindness and honesty that we all do. My second point is that the conference, with everyone's input, was the kind of place where even the most shy person from the most remote place on Earth could emerge, feel safe and thrive.