In 1998 Pact’s Women’s Empowerment Project (WEP) in Nepal (now known as WORTH) adopted an Empowerment Mobilization Strategy which builds directly on Appreciative Inquiry (AI), a participative, strength-based approach to planning that has been applied successfully around the world, from Fortune 500 corporations, to schools, hospitals, government bodies, faith-based communities, rural villages, and beyond. WORTH has captured and celebrated the pride and self-reliance of over 125,000 rural women in Nepal, empowering them with literacy, micro-enterprise, village banking, and legal rights and advocacy interventions – replacing fatalism and resignation with pride in achievements, self-confidence in women’s ability to set attainable goals, and success in achieving them. In November 2009, along with Marcia Odell and Malcolm Odell, Jr. (two field staff who helped seed these efforts in Nepal over a decade ago), Jen Hetzel Silbert had the privilege of visiting three WORTH projects in the village of Chitwan. This essay was the result of that inspiring journey.