After the training period my chosen post was in a small community known as Purchaudi Hat, in Baitadi District of the "far, far western" development region. The room I occupied at the school, my home, was seven days walk from the Indian border to the west and four days from the Tibetan border to the north.

The community was extremely poor by material standards, yet I have not lived in a richer place since then. The seemingly constant array of festivals, fairs and Hindu ceremonies made life a most wonderful thing. The closeness of the people something to be sought after here in the U.S. And without romanticizing a difficult way of life, I came away from Nepal with the firm conviction that it is not there which needs "development" but here in the west. I thank my friends for allowing me to learn this.

And I thank the Peace Corps for giving us the opportunity to grow by these kinds of experiences. Though there were many things about this government bureaucracy which I found dislikable and on some occasions hindering to my teaching progress, if I could I would require all young Americans, fresh out of college, to spend two years in another country as a working member of the community.