Do Not Relinquish Your Dream I am from an economically depressed and deprived area of Manang, where I lived with a sense of hopelessness. My village was surrounded by a mountain range and had no transportation system. Every day, I walked one hour to school and one hour back to my village from school. We lived in a one-bedroom house without any electricity. My father died when I was fourteen years of age. My mother died when I was fifteen years of age. At the age of sixteen, I left my village and moved to Katmandu to complete my dream of education. In Katmandu, I became homeless. I could not find a job; nobody helped me and no body believe me, because I was too young. I had no money to buy food. In fact, I survived many days in the street without eating any food. After spending about six months of my life in the streets, I finally found a job at the KC restaurant in Thamel. I worked at the KC restaurant as a dishwasher, where I had a dream of owning a restaurant someday. I had an opportunity to come to the United States in 1983. It was like a dream for me, when I first came to the United States. I completed my high school and undergraduate education in Washington State. I moved to St. Louis in 1992 to complete my graduate education. My Master’s and Doctorate’s degree training in public health and my many years of professional work experience with chronic disease prevention and health promotion have further reinforced my earlier dream of owning a restaurant. After the reflection and redefining of my dream, I opened the Everest Café in February, 2004. Everest Café is the first and only Nepalese restaurant serving in the St. Louis. The mission of Everest Café is to have every customer who comes through our door leave impressed. We are committed to accomplishing our mission by: ·Providing nutritional and well-prepared meals. ·Using only quality ingredients ·Maintaining a clean and comfortable environment for our customers ·Ensuring that all customers are treated with the respect, friendly and professional service ·Thanking each customer for the opportunity to serve them. We have been in operation only two years, but we are voted for the best “Vegetarian” and “Healthy in 2004 and 2005. My next dream is to open a shelter serving children and women who are poor and suffering as I was. I feel very lucky that I live in this country, because America is the land of opportunity. My message is that do not relinquish your dream, because I truly believe that anyone in America can grow up to be a successful person. All it takes is a little hard work and determination. I am able to complete my dream in this country, but not in Nepal.