Our Tibetan pony, Silver, has become one of our most valued and loved workers. He brings up the milk of 8 dairy farmers from a village called Majuwa. It is 1500 feet below us. The path is what our Nepalese call 'Nak Thoknay Bato' -- a path so steep you keep hitting your nose on it as you climb. That's why we need both Prakash and Nischal to help Silver up and especially to cross a Himalayan mountain torrent. The three of them save 6 farming friends from an exhausting climb. They also save them 4 hours for productive work. This is why every time I see Silver, I want to shout the happy, victorious cry of the radio lone ranger of my boyhood: "Hi!! Ho!! Silver away!".

At SASAC we try to train the poor not only to improve the way they work. We also try to improve the way they think. Our dairy farmers have learned that despite a lifetime of practice to the contrary, 'honesty is the best policy'! Notice the test tube near Rajoo's wrist. We test all our milk for viscosity and fat content  -- a positive factor in countries where people are skin and bone, and not skin and fat! Much to their surprise our farmers have learned that customers prefer heathen milk straight from the cow to milk blessed with holy water from some mountain stream. For their watery milk they used to get 6 rupees, now for their milky milk they get 10!

Life's visible harvests are often not as valuable as the invisible. The visible harvest our co-op farmers reap is a 60% increase in income from their milk. For underfed, underpaid farmers I don't belittle the value of that harvest. But it is really the invisible harvest that causes the visible. Homes in Himalayan villages are spread over a wide area. The paths linking them are steep and rough. So our farmers tend to be loners. In SASAC they learn the truth of the wise old adage: "In  unity there is strength!" The amazing success of our co-op teaches them that one 'invisible' natural resource they never realized they had is the power of co-operation. It makes 'the impossible dream' possible!

7 A M everyday. Up at SASAC ll (7000 feet) there's lots of hustle and bustle. In our 1859square meter bed garden, our workers  and trainees are harvesting. Nima and Pratap are milking. Village farmers are bringing in vegetables, milk, and mushrooms. Teams in our vegetable marketing and milk packaging sheds are busy as bees. After all is ready, cans, packs of milk, baskets of vegetables, mushrooms are piled near our storeroom for final count  and check. When our SASAC van backs in, everything is loaded. All this co-operative, coordinated activity gives us all a great feeling of togetherness and achievement. The feeling you get when you're clicking as a winning football team! Work alone can be drudgery, work together can be fun!