I was not a colleague or associate of Toni Hagen. I write as someone whose life benefited immensely from Toni's contribution. In the early sixties I was a Tibetan refugee put up at the Jawalakhel Tibetan Camp. Thickly bearded, laden with heavy cameras, fast walking, fast speaking and doing things with an air of "let us do rather than talk" is my memory of Hagen Sa'b. I was categorised as a student, but I remember Toni asking elderly refugees "What trade are you? Can you make toys? Can you weave carpets?" At one time Toni was not very popular among refugees because he did not want them to be fed free rations but be paid in cash based on their carpet weaving and making toys. Toni and his other friends established the refugee camp on a firm footing. He actually sowed the seeds of the now- famous carpet industry of Nepal. Thirty-five years later, by helping set up the Bright Horizon Children's Home Trust, Toni was able to fulfil his life-long wish to help the children of Nepal. Toni wanted to come to Nepal to say goodbye one last time. He had said that if he died here, he would like to be cremated at Pashupatinath like a Nepali.

Dawa Dhargye,
Kathmandu