Chris and I attended the 2009 World Appreciative Inquiry Conference in Kathmandu, Nepal, from 16-19 November 2009.
Then, for three days after the conference, we also visited several villages in the district of Chitwan, where some years ago WORTH worked with village women in Nepal to establish village banks through the Women’s Empowerment Program (WEP).
We were away for only 11 days, but it was a truly life-changing experience! We know it’s going to take some time before we have fully assimilated its impact in our lives and work!
We’ve put together three separate slideshows of images from our Nepal adventures – descriptions and links are below.
The background music is of Nepali folk tunes, with grateful thanks to Sur Sudha, a talented Nepali musical group who (as their website says) are known as Nepal’s musical ambassadors and are devoted to making music to disseminate a universal message of peae and harmony supporting the effort to alleviate poverty from the face of the earth.
Enjoy! :)
1. Conversations and Connections
The first slideshow, Conversations and Connections, is of the conference itself. It’s a whirlwind ride – 25 minutes and 500 images! :)
Yes, that’s a lot of pictures … :)
However we decided against using merely a handful of the best photos. We wanted to honour the fact that, in this very special place and time, over 400 people had gathered together from more than 40 countries! We therefore incorporated into the slideshow as many faces, conversations and shining moments as we could.
So this slideshow is not a photographic masterpiece. :) It includes some fuzzy or out-of-focus images as well, because they captured a particular face, conversation, expression or moment in time that was not recorded elsewhere in other photos.
Many of the pictures were taken by Chris who viewed a great deal of the conference through his camera lens. :) But we’d also like to thank Ralph Kelly very much for his generosity of spirit in sharing his own collection of conference photographs for us to use in this slideshow.
We hope this will ‘tell the story’ of the 2009 World Appreciative Inquiry Conference in a way that recaptures some of its magjc for those who attended – and shares something of its spirit with those who were not able to join us in person.
So please join us for Conversations and Connections
2. Images of Kathmandu
The second slideshow, Images of Kathmandu, plays for only six (6) minutes and, as its title suggests, it comprises photos taken in Kathmandu itself.
They are mostly of the Thamel area near the Kathmandu Guest House where we were staying, although some show parts of the city a little further afield.
3. A Chitwan Adventure
As its sub-title suggests, this slideshow covers the amazing three day adventure we had in Chitwan.
There we visited several villages and the women’s village banks – a deeply moving and awe-inspiring experience!
We also had the fun of an elephant ride – and a glorious canoe ride along a river in the early morning. And no … we didn’t see the elusive Bengal Tiger during either of these little safaris. :) But we did catch sight of several rhinos, some local deer, a monitor lizard and some of the region’s beautifully coloured kingfishers.
A Chitwan Adventure condenses these wonderful three days into a brief 14-minute journey of images and music to share with you.
Our monthly newsletter