Brain Drain

I'm up early. Too late for Nepali time. Maybe it's Dubai time. Speaking of that place ... my airline out of Kathmandu was called "Fly Dubai," and it carried a crazy mixture of tired trekkers and migrant workers headed back to the Middle East.

Ads in the Kathmandu Airport featured the money transfer service "Himal Remit," with an older man on a tractor waving his hand in glee. The check has arrived! The check from my son or daughter who can no longer live here because there are no jobs.

One issue I heard from all quarters in Nepal (from bank execs to taxi drivers) was the brain drain. It's difficult to find a family that has not been affected. Two interviews in a row ended with stories of children in college in Iowa or Massachusetts. Will they return?

As the world shrinks and problems grow, populations are on the move. One-quarter of Nepalis live outside Nepal. I'd like to think this country will remain its lovely, spiritual self. But what is a nation but its people? This is a question every world citizen should ask.