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It's not every weekend that you have the opportunity to show one of the great cities of the world to people who have never been there. Last weekend another family and mine had fun showing the Karki family from Nepal around the city.

How did this all happen? In a sense it began more than 10 years ago when the Karki family decided to take in its first American student through the External Studies Program run by Pitzer College. This first student was our daughter, Amanda. She spent several months living with them in their home as a part of their family, learned to speak Nepali, worked in the fields alongside them, and ate at their table. She also traveled with other American students to Royal Chitwan park where they were charged by a rhino and up into the mountains where they were hosted by Sherpa families. When she returned, she talked about one of the girls in the family who didn't want to follow the usual path for young Nepali girls - marriage at age 13 or 14 and children soon to follow. Meena, naturally independent, was meeting women who would be her role models.

Seven other American sisters followed over the next years. Having met several of them in the last year, I can tell you that they are extraordinary women. One, Svea Closser from Marquette, Michigan, spent the whole year in Nepal and was visited by her parents around Christmas. Sally and Bruce Closser were the ones to bring Meena to the US to spend a year in the high school where Sally was a counselor. The Clossers continued to sponsor Meena with the help of several organizations in the Marquette community and numerous individuals from all over the US, and in May of 2006 she graduated with a degree in nursing from Northern Michigan University.

One of Meena's dreams was to have her parents come to Marquette to see her graduation. They began the Visa application process in the early spring of 2006, but ran into problems when the US embassy closed down during the disturbances in the capital. They finally received 5 year multiple entry Visas a day before graduation, too late to make it for the ceremony. They did arrive a week or so later, thanks to the Marquette community. The local newspaper carried an article about their visit.

When Tobi and Talia Inlender were in Marquette for Meena's graduation (Talia was one of Meena's American sisters), we decided that we would invite the family to San Francisco when they were visiting. We set a date, got the tickets, decided where we would all stay, and what we might so. All we had to do was wait for the date to roll around!