Shrawan Nepali grew up at Paropakar Orphanage in Kathmandu, Nepal from age 8 till 16 after losing his grandma, YogaMaya Shrestha. After finishing high school, he worked as a supervisor to take care of a 50-boy orphanage while attending part-time college at The Public Youth College, Kathmandu. He also worked at the International Buddhist Library in Swayembhunath. In 1985 he received an opportunity to pursue his higher education in the United States when his long time Peace Corp Volunteer brother, John Paul, sponsored his education at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, North Carolina. After receiving his BA in Business Administration 1989, he moved to be closer to another long time Peace Corp Volunteer brother, Dave Fulton, from San Francisco, who served in his village in Pyuthan, Western Nepal, during the late 1960s.

While working part-time at Tri-Valley Growers Corporation in San Francisco as an accountant, he ended up getting his MBA in International Business from Lincoln University in 1993, and kept serving corporate America for 8 years. At Selective Media, San Francisco, he worked as a controller from 1995-1999. At Alternative Telecom, Berkeley, he worked as a controller from 1999-2001.

To give back to his native country Nepal, he left the corporate world in 2001 to start a home to provide a lasting home and education for some of the most underprivileged children of Nepal, and founded The Ama Foundation. (www.ama-foundation.org)

With his love of cooking and to bring friends together from the East and the West in what he calls the "human fireplace", in 2006 he founded "Curry Without Worry" free lunches at the Civic Center every Tuesday with music and singing -- and the help of friends from both parts of the world.

Shrawan travels around the world to promote these two organizations and also leads his friends from the West in spiritual and adventurous journeys to Nepal twice a year.

Join Shrawan, Julie and series producers Judith and Ramon Sender at 6:00 (note later time) PM for a no-host pizza (or other entré) supper at the Noe Valley Pizza on the northeast corner of Sanchez and 24th Streets before the evening's event (five minutes walk from the restaurant). Parking is available at 5 dollars for three hours across the street from the Noe Valley Pizza. The 24 line and the 48 line and the J Church are the nearby Muni transportation lines available.