Tariq, thank you for supporting our solar project.

I'd like to introduce you to people very special to me. People who have inspired me to become better and do better. Their story is one of many driving my work to encourage education and leadership within Nepal.

Baba (right) moved his family from a small village on the outskirts of Lumbini into the city of Pokhara. He rented a two-bedroom house, sleeping everyone in one room and using the other as a guest hotel to earn extra income. While he doesn't speak English and I don't speak much Nepali, I like to think he saw a better future for his family and made whatever sacrifices he needed to make for that chance. Despite working hard, he was present, always involved in his children's lives -- no matter how many hours he was away, he always made it home for dinner.

Amma (blue) is a traditional Nepali matriarch with an impressive abundance of energy after mothering seven children. I asked her repeatedly for her secrets. Never have I met a woman more loving or more accepting. She's sharp, quick, and was skipping up mountains to vote.

Nawang (left) is top of his class in Mathematics. It's virtually unheard of to receive academic scholarship in Nepal. He has, and he's studying to take his teaching exam the end of this month. He's one of the best teachers I've seen, and a talented musician to boot.

Akash (behind) is an entrepreneur and craftsman. He's father to the sweetest baby girl and husband to a doting beauty of a wife. His quiet laugh is infectious.

Sangpo (in red) is at the helm of our power project. Aside from being incredibly capable and intelligent, he's hard-working and kind. This is a man who helps old women on and off the public bus and shoos baby chickens out of the street. It takes an extra forty minutes to go anywhere with him because he stops to asks neighbors how they are doing, if he can help.

I want to be more like these people. I feel honored and blessed to be welcomed into their home. And if I have a family of my own one day, I can only hope it's something like what they've created.