Some of our Taiwanese guests having been very impressed with our sustainability efforts in Gundu, Bhaktapur and wanted to visit and volunteer to help build our “Eco-home” which will act as a resource centre (library for kids of the village and an organic farming training centre). The project is on the verge of completion requiring only finishing touches and is set to be completed within a couple of weeks.

The idea of the “Eco-building” is to use soil from its own foundation to make compressed earth blocks (bricks) and use mud as a plaster (binding agent) for bricks minimizing the use of cement while building homes. In this way, we discourage the use of traditional bricks from brick kilns that cause excessive pollution of the air, water and soil. We also do not need to extract soil from other areas as the foundation provides enough of it helping prevent unnecessary exploitation of soil from other areas. We want to show people a better alternative to building houses and farming methods as current ways are too unsustainable. Excessive use of chemicals in the soil to increase productivity has been rampant in Nepal and the adverse effects on health of the population are starting to be seen recently. The brick kilns of Bhaktapur have been marked as one of the primary contributors of air pollution in the valley.

As it is the month of “Asar” in Nepal, the month of “Dhan Ropai” (Paddy plantation), the group got an opportunity to plant rice crops in paddy fields owned by our company where organic farming methods are taught. The festival is called “Asar Pandhra” and is celebrated with great joy, eating “Dahi Chiura” (Curd and Bitten rice) in all of Nepal. We always encourage our guests to take part in such activities and are more than happy to take them to participate as guests can learn from ‘where’ and ‘how’ the food they eat comes from.