Tisha, A great story . . . from Outlook magazine! Reading this kind of stuff literally makes my day! Helping people start and sustain their own commercial businesses is one ADDITIONAL (and arguably more return-giving) way to help Nepal. In small towns across Nepal, many women have become self-reliant by being small-business owners who run their own "beauty parlors". If my memory serves me right, three years ago, when this famous Indian hairdresser called Habib (I think that is his name) came to KTM and gave a presentation at Hotel Soaltee, more than half of his audience (of about 600 or so women) was composed of beauty-parlor owners from OUTSIDE of KTM Valley. They had come to KTM, at their own expenses, to pick up hair-styling skills from this master. And they were not rich businesswomen -- just hardworking women (most were former housewives) who were then proud to run their own parlors in Butwal, Nepal Gunj, Damauli and the like! oohi ashu