![](http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/12/12/opinion/12aw/12aw-blog427.jpg)
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Shyam is a skinny 32-year-old who
looks barely out of his teens, the father of a young boy whom he has
not seen for nearly two years. I first met him four years ago when he
was working as a porter for a trekking company in the hills of
western Nepal, close to where he was born and grew up.
looks barely out of his teens, the father of a young boy whom he has
not seen for nearly two years. I first met him four years ago when he
was working as a porter for a trekking company in the hills of
western Nepal, close to where he was born and grew up.