Living abroad and my project

One month passed since I arrived in Kathmandu. I saw places, got used to the daily and weekly routine. So, I started to question their habits, compare them to the way I would do things at home, was tempted to implement my way of living, but I stopped. 

Who am I to come here and implement my way of living to a culture I barley know and do not understand? Who am I to think our way of living is better or more suitable to a region I just discovered one month ago?

There's a reason for their way of living as much as there’s a reason for my way of living. Neither of them is wrong or right. Both have their background, which is not at all simple to discover nor to change. There's no need to change, but there's needing to reflect, rethink and adapt. That's what I try and my first approach to find out more about the environment I'm living in for three months, was an interview with a local person working at the foundation: Santosh Chhetri.

Interview with Santosh Chhetri

Santosh is living in the foundation with his wife and his daughter, who is 7 years old. He is the right hand of Krishna Gurung and takes care of the foundation, when Krishna is not around. Santosh works already since the beginning in March 2010 here.

Santosh Chhetri

My first question to Santosh:

How did your life change within the last ten years?

It is quite a difficult question to answer and he took his time to think before answering: “Well, first on a very personal level I became a husband and a father what changed my life quite a lot. Having now responsibility for my family and the education of my daughter. With the launching of the foundation I also started to have responsibilities towards the community. Already before that I worked with the youth of Kahare but now I feel even more responsible for my people. Together with KRMEF I have now the material and possibility to help people in need.

For example, after the earth quake we were able to provide water and food for the People, we had the money to support them and the technology and the knowledge to help them building new houses which w ill be earthquake stable. All this responsibility gave me the feeling of beeing a responsible citizenship and developed my personality. Also, the visit to Europe was an enrichment for my perspectives and my understanding of the world.”

My second question was rather an addition to the first one:

How did the development of the country influence your life?

“There were a lot of changes in politic and economy. But the most influencing issue was having access to the internet and to mobile phones. 10-12 Years ago, only rich people had a phone. Nowadays everyone has one, which simplifies the communication locally and internationally, makes possible, what hasn’t been before. Also, the access to electricity has changed many things. One week ago, we even installed some streetlights in the foundation. Nowadays you can see in the night, where the houses are, there are no longer just candles illuminating the house.

The earthquake in 2015 was another thing what influenced our life and is still an issue. Out there are still people who haven’t gotten a replacement for their lost home during the tremor. As mentioned before, we are helping them to rebuild them but it takes time and money.

The construction and bituminization of roads gave access to more parts of the country and allows transportation of goods. Those construction also made it possible to help the people quicker. Kathmandu valley starts to change towards a more touristic region. KRMEF was the first enterprise bringing foreign people to here. Now the government is inspired of that idea and wants to promote this region. There’s a tea house, one hour up the hill from here, which is called The White House it is becoming more popular, also for Nepali tourists, Lake Taudaha which is involved in the legend of the genesis of Kathmandu valley and not far there’s the biggest Buddha of Nepal. Due to this aim, the development of the roads, water and electricity supply as well as telephone service have happened.”   

Nepal in 10 years…

It is hard to imagine, how Nepal will be in ten years… Seeing the development that this country had made in the last 10 years it is likely, that in another 10 years you do not recognize it anymore. Worst and best scenario seam to me the same:  Nepal becoming a western country.

Today still 80% of the population are farmers. But young people dream western dreams, they see the money, the beauty and the fame of western popstars, see the technology and want the same. They dream of going to the States. Santosh told me that Nepal’s aim is to become like Singapore or Malaysia. The government plans to finish the road constructions and then they want to bring trains from China. You would be able to reach Pokhara within 4 hours from Kathmandu instead of 8 hours. They plan to build tunnels.

Will it be still like that in 10 years?

“The best thing”, so Santosh, “is that the government has changed. They just finished elections and with the new system the elected cabinet will be in power for the next 5 years instead of only 9 months as it has been until now. This change allows  more political stability what helps plan things ahead, there’s more peace and energy for other concerns. The biggest problem to be solved in future is the waste problematic and air pollution.

Will we face a loss of culture?

In cultural term, there will be some habits and traditions which probably will get lost through adaption to western lifestyle and there will be western culture introduced into Nepal’s culture. Already now young people start to celebrate Halloween or going out every Friday. I remember me being child when we started to celebrate Halloween and elder people refusing to give sweets with the comment “we’re not in America!”

Handmade scarfs - still in 10 years?

The community spirit will probably be less pronounced. “It’s already observed”, so Santosh, “that people, living in Kathmandu, do not have anymore time for those things they, stopped caring for each other and only look after themselves. I also hope that the Culture will become more open towards other styles of living such as same sex relationships, 3^rd gender (x), handicapped people or marrying the love of your life.

Children at School, picture by Anais

In Terms of education the English language level will probably increase trough out the country, more young people will start to study instead of going back to farming. Hopefully more children will go to school and the whole system will improve. because until now it seems to be low leveled. School and education will probably gain a higher status in the population and will become more important in order to get a good job.

Project work

Biodynamic seminar with Harald Hoven

On the 27^th of November we had a biodynamic seminar wit Harald Hoven. Harald is a specialist from the States, we mainly looked at the compost system, turned the existing piles and created a new one. In the old ones we put biodynamic preparations in, so the compost can not be better now. That means my project is practically done. 

Cow horn filled with Cow dung

So, I had to think of shifting my project in a different direction. Now I’m going to write an Information sheet about what we’ve learned during the seminar for future composting. I also started to create signs for each pile, to inform visitors and workers. So all in all, I’m satisfied with what We’ve done until now.

In the beginning of the project I mainly did nutrition measurement, a closed and an open cress test and a tomato germination test. The results of it are that the compost doesn’t contain a lot of Nitrogen. Nitrate and Nitrite are both below the test concentration borders and ammonium is at 11.3 mg/l. The open cress test showed an improvement of growth with the compost substrate in comparison to the soil. The closed cress test failed, probably due to too much water. The tomato germination test couldn’t be finished due to the seminar I had to take out all the bags but what I saw was that many seeds already germinated in the pile. So even if the nutrition ratio is not balanced yet and needs another mature phase, the cress test shows that the compost has already a soil-enhancing effect. Harald said after turning and prep-ing the piles they need a month of rest that the preparations can operate. In between I also wrote a report about the way of farming at KRMEF, which is supposed to provide information for experts who are coming here in spring. Besides, I helped in the garden, helped painting some rooms, made jam and painted some tires to build a bridge.

The work in the team is not always easy, because Krishna, who is supposed to help me is often busy and has not so much time. And Kali, the women who is responsible for the garden, doesn’t understand also of English, so we can not communicate about what I’m doing. But when I need information I always find a way to get them.

In the remaining time I will write the information sheet about the Compost seminar and in beginning of January I will measure again the nitrogen in the compost and may do another cress test.

One year more…

If I had another year in the foundation I first would try to understand why their complete farming system and then rethink the whole, especially animal husbandry and I would also do some tests on the soil type and quality. I would introduce crop rotation, would learn more about their traditions and about biodynamic farming. But more than that I would like to start to manage the waste problem at the foundation. Whole Nepal has the problem that they throw the garbage into the nature and burn it or just leave it. The result of that is, that there’s waste everywhere you look, in the river, in the compost, on the street, in the garden or in the bus. If I want to begin somewhere, then it’s at a foundation such as KRMEF. They already have a garbage separation system with 4 buckets: Plastic, Paper, Organic and other. But the thing is that it doesn’t work yet, people seem not to understand or not to care. The compost was also full of plastic waste: I found ropes, toothbrushes, plastic bottles, chips packages and more. I probably would start with a school project about waste.

Problems & Solutions of Nepal by KRMEF

But still who am I to judge them for what they do? I do not want to implement my ideas and vision. First, I want to understand their way of living and which time.

I’m not on a missionary trip and don’t think I know everything better. I know the way we handle the problem, but it might be that it doesn’t suit for Nepal. So, I must listen, observe and live here, then think and only then try to find a creative solution which fits for Nepal’s cultural, political and economical way of living.

Cow grazing in the mountain