Since returning, I've thought a lot about that community of women. Of course, a trip lasting two weeks is hardly enough time for me to claim to really know and understand the community; all I can do is share what I observed. Overall, I think the role of women in their communities - be it in Tibet or Hong Kong or any number of other places - doesn't change. Women are the pillars of the home, nurturing, caring for, and catering to their loved ones, in addition to acting as breadwinners by working in the fields or holding industrial jobs.

I think the difference between that Tibetan community and mine is in the digital distance. The Tibetan women seemed to operate in their immediate physical environment. They cooked together, fetched water together, cleaned sheep's skin together by the riverside, and often belonged to one extended family. In my society, an individual's support network can be thousands of miles away. I'm in constant contact via the telephone, the Internet, and email with my sister in Paris, my friend in New York, and my mom in Malaysia. We are connected emotionally and spiritually but not physically anymore. That group of Tibetan women was connected through day-to-day living; they were physically close, while women like me are connected to our wider support group
digitally over a great distance.