Sibjan Chaulagain can't wait to see his family again at the end of the month. They are 10,000km away in Sindhuli, a district in central Nepal.
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His four-year old twin girls, who stayed in Nepal with his parents, will finally see their father return after two years studying abroad.
Mr Chaulagain and his wife moved to Canberra in 2022 after he was offered a place in DFAT's Australia Awards scholarship.
The scholarship allowed emerging leaders in developing countries an opportunity to study, research and connect with industry professionals in Australia. Only 1141 people, from 55 countries, were provided this opportunity in 2024.
Mr Chaulagain completed a two-year masters program at the Australian National University, focusing on agri-technology to help developing countries solve food scarcity issues.
He wanted to make the most of the opportunity given to him and graduated with a 6.75 grade point average out of a possible 7.00.
"This is a very once-in-a-lifetime opportunity this kind of scholarship. Getting the scholarship is one thing, but using the most of it is the other thing," Mr Chaulagain said.
Back in Nepal, his family have been farmers largely out of necessity.
For a long time the only way to get to the next closest town was a two-day walk.
Being a farmer was the "only choice", he said.
But Mr Chaulagain was given an opportunity by a Nepalese government scholarship and a "brilliant woman" who sponsored his school fees to do engineering at the Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu back in 2010.
When he finished, he wanted to give back to the rural areas he'd grown up in with his newfound knowledge.
For a few years after graduating, Mr Chaulagain worked building labs with solar panels in these areas.
Through this he noticed the lack of connection and agriculture information available to farmers in the small, fragmented farmlands of Nepal.
He started his company ICT for Agri to provide crop, weather and market advisory via SMS and phone app.
It was this initiative, built to empower and improve the livelihood of smallholder farmers, which placed him to receive the Australia Award.
He has used his time in Australia to enjoy the calm city life Canberra allows, to travel to Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide.
But he was also involved in multiple research projects, including with ANU's Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions.
They researched how to communicate changing rainfall conditions to farmers in Papua New Guinea.
"Based on the digital ecosystem of PNG, I said maybe SMS could be something," Mr Chaulagain said.
He worked with the institute on a feasibility assessment, leading to the project being funded.
"When I go back [to Nepal] ... I will be consulting to scale that to the whole eastern island province of Papua New Guinea," he said.
Mr Chaulagain will return to Nepal on July 26, but is already planning to start a PhD.
"I will definitely try to see to create a value out of it. For developing countries, not just for the Nepal," he said.
