Biogas Workshop and Operations Part 1, by Adrien Calvez Petit (France, intern) and Katrina Sill (USA, intern)

Biogas Workshop

As part of the ConservEN program, four of my intern colleagues and I recently participated in a two-day Biogas Workshop aiming to increase basic awareness of biogas plants and their potential as a renewable energy source in Northern India.

On the first day of our workshop, we learned how a biogas plant functions and why it may be a beneficial sustainable energy source for the communities we live in.

A biogas plant produces clean gas through the digestion of cow dung and non-woody biomass waste. The resulting biogas is used as a low-cost fuel for various energy needs. This workshop focused primarily on using biogas for cooking as an alternative to LPG (liquid petroleum gas), a limited environmental resource.

Biogas plant diagram (source: biogas-technology.blogspot.com)

Biogas plants provide an extensive list of benefits. The input, most commonly cow dung mixed with water, has high levels of the greenhouse gas methane. After biogas digestion, however, the biogas plant emits the processed cow dung as waste with significantly lower levels of methane. This “waste” product can be used as a nitrogen rich, odorless organic fertilizer full of beneficial bacteria that’s easily absorbed by plants. Therefore, the biogas plant not only provides a sustainable source of cooking fuel, it also supports rural sanitation, organic plant growth, and greenhouse gas reduction.

The Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy provides subsidies for biogas plant construction, reducing the 30,000 rupee cost to roughly 20,000 rupees.

Extensive list of biogas benefits (Source: Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy)

On the second day, we visited several working biogas plants in nearby villages. First, we visited the village of Charhi, where the head of the village, Mr. Dadwal, invited us into his home to study his biogas digester. 

Mr. Dadwal’s resilient biogas plant built into the ground.

This biogas plant was built 20 years ago for a cost of approximately five thousand rupees (roughly 100 US dollars), which was quite an important amount at the time. The biogas plant features an aboveground input tank to insert the dung mixture, connected to the underground concrete reservoir where anaerobic process occurs and produces the gas. The waste outlet expels the processed dung as pressure builds. They feed the biogas plant roughly five kg of cow dung each day from their one cow, producing two-three hours of biogas cooking fuel daily. The family uses up to two cylinders of biogas per month due to the reception of many guests, which is linked to the position as head of the village of the father.

The Biogas Workshop participants. From left to right in foreground: Gulshan (cultural liaison officer, far left), interns- Clement, Aureline, Katrina, Mandy and Adrien

The second visit took us to Mr. and Mrs. Shamsher’s home, near the EduCARE intern house in Maiti. Like Mr. Dadwal’s family, this family has an important role in the community as current village committee members.

Mrs. Shamsher kindly demonstrated how to use their 18-year-old biogas plant, a similar model to the plant in Charhi.

First, Mrs. Samsher added water to the dung in the inlet reservoir.

Then, she mixed the dung and water together and removed the stone that allows the mixture to enter the reservoir where anaerobic digestion occurs.

On the top of the concrete biogas reservoir, she opened a valve that released the gas into the gas line. Here you can see the gas line carried through the trees to their kitchen.

She also welcomed us into her kitchen where she uses three sources of energy for cooking: wood, biogas and LPG. According to her experience, the biogas flame is slightly weaker compared to the LPG and provides the slower heat best suited for cooking chapatti bread and vegetables. She uses the biogas for 75% of their cooking, up to 2-3 hours per day, with dung supplied from their three cows. One supplemental cylinder of LPG now lasts her 3-4 months. During the winter, she uses the stove more often because of the heat it provides to her home.

Her three energy sources for cooking (biogas, wood stove, and LPG) increases her self-reliance if biogas supply is low.

(Continued in Part 2)

Biogas Workshop Part 2 – by Katrina Sill and Adrien Calvez Petit

(continued from Part 1)

After visiting these two biogas digesters, we visited Mr. Ramesh’s Nirmayam Trust Organic Farm close to Maiti.

The farm applies organic farming, permaculture, and natural farming principles by growing several kinds of plants in the same area. This creates resistance to pests by increasing biodiversity.

Natural building made of stone and clay plaster with a roof made of slate rock. Although concrete is becoming more popular, this style of natural building is still common in the local villages.

The farm holds up to ten cattle in the barn, but they aren’t currently processing the dung for energy use. This is a good example of the biogas plant potential in the area as biomass/dung is readily available.

Finally, we visited Dr. Anjan Kumar Kalia in Dharamshala at his renewable energy shop and information center. As a retired professor of Palampur Agricultural University, Dr. Kalia is a leading expert in biogas processes in India and has travelled extensively around the world to present his works in several environmental conferences.

Dr. Kalia’s renewable energy center displays and sells a wide array of sustainable energy options.

He provided us with valuable, relevant information from his research on the current biogas use in India.

His statistical highlights focus on the state of Himachal Pradesh, where half of the ConservEN and EduCARE interns currently work:

• Cattle to human ratio = nearly 1:1
• Dung from these cows could fuel 319,482 biogas plants
• 319,482 biogas plants = domestic energy needs of 1.24 million people
• 45,000 biogas plants currently installed = only 14% of potential
• Carbon credit can be sold by rural villagers with biogas plants to the International Carbon Market for reducing methane gas production

Dr. Kalia also provided us with advice and guidance on how to fix the issues Adrien encountered with his ambitious homemade biogas plant.

After two days of workshop training, we gained a deeper awareness of biogas production. Most importantly, we began to process and discuss the potential of biogas usage in the communities around our centers in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.

Next, we plan to develop Adrien’s model of a biogas plant and gather additional knowledge on our communities’ need and interest in relation to biogas use. We’re excited to share our experience and knowledge at our REstore office, to open in the next month or two.

 

Organization-wide gathering and the Holi Holiday!!

These are the fallen petals of the colorful Rhododendrum Arboreum tree. The flowers are edible as well as medicinal, good for women’s health!

Spring is upon us and it’s the end of the fiscal year for EduCARE India and it’s programs. So those of us in Punjab packed up our bags, locked up the house and boarded that hot, bumpy, crowded bus to Dharamshala to join the rest of the organizational interns, directors and officers (19 total) for a week of meetings, play and then off for holiday travel. Oh if only the bus had not… broken down

So this is how it begins, 5 interns hanging out on the side of the road, 3 more hours of travel ahead of us, bags in tow, waiting for another bus to stop by so we could hop on. Luckily, a bus DID happen by and half of us even got seats! Crowded, bumpy and hot, we arrived in Dharamshala and all parted ways in the late afternoon to our respective lodging for the week.

Meetings, meetings and more meetings, it’s true. But interspersed we had quite a lot of fun and bonding experiences. Half of us attended a trip to Palampur to learn about organic farming, composting, mushroom cultivation and bamboo handicraft and architecture (posts and pictures soon to follow). We always found time to talk over coffee, get some continental foods in Mcleod Ganj, have a  night out or two and share our trials and tribulations with each other. I’d have to say by far my favorite activity was the walk to Bhagsu, about 3-4 km away from Naddi, through the lower Himalayas. We were surrounded by greenery, tall trees, flowering rhododendrum, Tibetan prayer flag forests, and accompanied by a lot of friendly, furry and curious mountain dogs who have the roam of the place.

Tibetan prayer flags line a portion of the trail at the top of a hill, creating a serene and colorful site to sit and reflect.

One of the friendly dogs accompanying us… that is until the BIG dogs came out to play

Taking a walk through the lower Himalayas from Naddi to Bhagsu, with some adventurous interns and a pack of roaming (but friendly!) dogs escorting us

Everyone loves the sites on this popular walking trail

EduCARE has 5 different program areas, three of which are fully operational and two of which are still in the implementation and research and development stages (Rural Health Care and Education). Besides ConservEN, I heartily encourage you to check out the other Program blogs for Young Women’s IDEA and MicroempowerED.

Well, the meetings came to an end two days before Holi, giving us ample time to travel to our vacation destinations. One group of interns decided to visit Rishikesh and nearby villages. Another group went to Rajasthan. However, I and another coordinator chose to stay in Naddi and enjoy the festivities with our local friends and family, and also get some much needed R&R.

It was great! Holi was so much fun. We walked to a portion of the community we have come to know quite well and played with a dozen kids and adults, throwing colored powder, spraying colored foam, throwing water on each other and, well, washing colored powder from our eyes intermittently (it doesn’t burn so much as you might think, thank goodness!). The best thing is that first you are ‘blessed’ with the powder… then 20 hands are rushing at you to make sure every inch of you face and arms are a variety of red, blue, pink, green, etc.

First the blessing…

…and then the PLAY!!!

Holi is a time of music, color, rambunctious behavior and… gifts. One tourist gave the village kids all key chains with different places represented in Malaysia (I’m guessing the tourist was… Malaysian?). I gave the kids… my smile. And color… lots and lots of color. I think at one point my bag of powser was simply absconded by some of the kids, but no worries, it’s all in fun. Many children lined the roads holding ropes at each end, trying to get cars to stop and pay a “toll.” Of course, as the road is lined by so many, people get tired of paying these tokens and start driving through the ropes. Hence, as my friend and I took a walk down the mountain we saw many kids sitting about with broken ropes. They were still smiling and playing though, so no harm done. Everyone everywhere looked covered in color. And then there are the groups of, well, very “happy” young men playing up-tempo music and dancing….counter-intuitively? It was pretty funny, especially this group we spotted getting down to “Gangnam Style” and trying to, well, “bless” us with colored powders as we dodged away. Hmmm

Gangnam Style? Really?? Sigh

Still, my first ever Holi was a riot of color, fun and friendship. I start the new “year” here at ConservEN energized and enthusiastic to see what the coming months will bring

Cooking, Chai and Community Relations in Punjab

Me with a local migrant girl living near the Janauri community

Getting to know your local community is vitally important to your project, your comfort and security, and to the organization’s survival as well. The purpose of our projects is three-fold:

1. To benefit the organization that is ConservEN and EduCARE India, providing information, examples and platforms for further development in the project area and helping us achieve living and working sustainability
2. To benefit yourself, the Project Manager/Assistant Project Manager and Intern, by providing you with a new experience, an expanded skill set, and the knowledge and resilience to survive and thrive in your chosen field of study and work.
3. To benefit the local community, by providing alternative living, sustainable techniques for everyday life and work and an opportunity for education and develop for all.

Sometimes the smallest gesture can create big waves. As well, even a selfish motive can bring upon a wealth of hospitality, knowledge and compassion. One day I simply wanted to learn to cook some local Punjabi dishes. The food served in homes cannot be compared to by what you find in a local restaurant- the cool Floria dish of curd, mint and legumes, the spicy and hearty dal, the never-the-same dishes of curried mixed vegetables, and of course Chapatti and Chai! A woman I had visited a few times prior served me and two other interns a fantastic meal one lovely evening and I instantly requested if she’d be so kind to show me how she cooks a few dishes. She gladly accepted.

Swati my new “sister” showing me how to cook curried vegetables

On Sunday afternoon I walked to this woman’s home, whose name is Sudesh. She had a few of her friends over which I quickly gathered were both to help instruct me but more so for the amusement of meeting and watching a foreigner learn to cook these complex Indian dishes. First task: cutting vegetables. Great, hand me a good knife and a cutting board and I am ready to roll! Ummm, no. Let’s try a semi-sharp knife and no cutting board. The women cut their vegetables very quickly in their own hands, and never seem to get cut. I, however, found it to be nerve-wracking and a slow and laborious process. Soon I was drenched in tomato juice with lots of little nicks and scratches that were BURNING like crazy from the chilli oils and juices coating my hands. I tried to be tough and not show my misery, but it must have been evident as the ladies often plucked things out of my hands to quickly finish/show me again how to best cut the vegetable. What should have take a mere 20 minutes took me more than an hour! But the women were enjoying our visit, as was I, and we had warm, sweet milk and cookies mid-prep time.

What I was finally able to do was shuck what felt like a million pees, help cut about 10 carrots, 3 pieces of ginger, one head of garlic, numerous tomatoes and grind up about 10 chili peppers. Great, ready to cook! Ummm, not quite. Out comes a bowl full of whole spices: two kinds of pepper and jeera, which I believe is whole cumin seed, and who knows what else. I was handed the pestle and left to grind away for another half hour. It’s hard work! Pounding the spices over and over to make them powdery. Out comes chai and more snacks, and I was able to pick up a few Punjabi words while I worked, so it was altogether an enjoyable experience. I don’t wonder that the women are generally in good shape, cooking is a workout! I found out later I made garam masala spice mixture, which I generally just buy pre-mixed in a box. The pre-mixed version is not even close to the real thing! I definitely must purchase a pestle…

Grinding away at the garma masala spices

Finally, after nearly two hours of chit chat and prepping, we enter the kitchen. Numerous pots and pans and bowls are brought out. It was a whir of heating oils, adding spices, cooling the oil, reheating, adding the vegetables  adding more spices, heading to the garden to pick fresh herbs to add to the veggies and dal dishes. So much movement and so many steps and layers to the dishes! I eventually just had to sit down and jot notes and try to commit to memory the process. Then it’s mixing, kneading and rolling chappati dough, igniting a fire and making 25 chapatti… wait, 25? I thought we were just cooking for us? Oh no, this was a meal not for the family, but for MY family- all 7 interns in the house at the time as we had 4 who were visiting. Wait! I said. This is too much, really, can I at least pay you for the ingredients? But no, that would not be heard of. So unbeknownst to me I helped generate this incredible meal for us interns, all freely given, labor included. I discovered the women would begin cooking again in an hour or two for the men of the house who would be coming home from work and prayer. I was shocked, saying, “You must spend all your time cooking!!!” This got a lot of laughter and I soon learned that what took me nearly 4 hours was generally an hour process for the women. Ooopsies, ok, so I have a LOT of practice to do. The day ended with us marching to my home with 6 dishes in tow to present to the newly arrived interns and my housemates. Boy were we grateful! We sat down to a delicious meal compliments of these kind, talented and giving ladies of the Dholbaha community. I am so lucky!

It smells sooo good

But that’s what community is here. You meet one person and you must also meet their aunts, sisters, brothers, uncles, grandparents, cousins, children, nieces and nephews. Then as your eyes grow big at the some 30 people you have just met and 6 different houses you have visited, you realize all neighbors are aunts/cousins, uncles/brothers and so on. When you are in the community, you ARE family, blood or no. I have now been designated a Didi, or sister, by many of the families and so have become part of the family. It’s both heartening and overwhelming, as there is a lot of pressure put on for me to visit family, share a meal, have a chai, etc. The children can be a bit possessive and demanding to see you on a daily basis. Boundaries have to be set, cultural norms have to be maintained, men must be kept at a distance for the threat of being seen as flirty or inappropriate. It’s an exhausting experience and everyday I learn something new about community, Indian culture and myself. But on the other hand, I feel secure and welcome, with many people watching out for me and on call to help me if I encounter any troubles or situations I don’t know how to handle. Of course, one must always be careful to accept friendliness unconditionally, as past experience has shown that not everyone (though this is definitely the exception, and generally rare at that) will have good intentions. You must be wary of people using you for status, generating false rumors to benefit him or her, or even having designs to steal from you. Still, it will be hard to leave those persons I have come to know and trust, my family.

Adrien: Being a new intern with EduCare and ConservEN

Dear followers of Educare tribulation,

Adrien pictured here carrying the bin for his new biogas project.

My name is Adrien, from France and I’ve been in India for one month and  a half working for Educare India as an intern.
After a short trip in Himachal where I’ve been in touch with the Naddi community, I’m now in Dholbaha: Punjab.
After the Himalayan mountains, I’m faced with the India through Kipling’s eyes: Jungle book style.
For now, it has been a great adventure on many aspects: human, physical and spiritual.

Working in rural India is interesting and motivating because you realize that if you don’t rely on yourself nothing will move and that your work can have a real impact on this environment and people’s everyday life.

After one month, I’ve built a demonstration biogas plant in Dholbaha, for which I’ve found all the supplies at the local shops.
At first, people were surprised by my requests, but they are now used to it and are interested in this weird biogas plant…
For now, I am waiting to get gas from my installation. It should take two weeks before the air chamber starts to swell, showing gas is being produced.

I hope to get results with this plant by the end of the month and then educate our neighbors with this technology. Then I would like to develop similar technology in one of their houses. I’ve heard that one of them already has a biogas installation in her home but she’s facing several problems. I will visit her soon and try to understand what’s going on.

In Janauri, there is a migrant camp in which Educare is involved to provide them education and health care.
We just started to set up a health camp with the help of an Indian doctor. It could be a good resource for these children that have relatively important health issues.
We usually go to their camp twice a week: Tuesday and Thursday afternoon.
There, we are doing educational games and trying to help them learn the alphabet, but it’s quite hard to get results because the children have difficulties to focus.
Nevertheless, the interns in Janauri give classes to the girls of the camp twice a week, in the morning, at the Educare office and it works quite well!

A little boy playing in the migrant camp

Many good things are happening in Punjab, but we are still trying to build stronger relationships with the Himachal Cluster.
Clement, a fellow French intern in Maity is starting the biogas process and we’ll apply his knowledge in waste management in Janauri soon.

See you soon for new tribulations!

WildForest intern Roberto and his experience in Dholbaha

Roberto is in the left hand side of the picture in orange. He will be interning with ConservEN for 1 year, arriving from Italy.

I have been an EduCare/ConservEN intern since three months back, and I am living in the Dholbaha Vikas Centre, in Punjab. Upon arrival I first had a month of induction about the organization’s activities and ideals in Himachal Pradesh, where there are other three Vikas Centr. I was placed in Naddi, the EduCare headquarters in the Himalayas, near the town where the Dalahi Lama’s temple is.
On clear days here in Dholbaha, sitting on a hill in front of a little lake surrounded by a subtropical forest, you can sight the Himalayas. But the climate is totally different: hotter and less crowded. I am living with two other interns in a wide rural area where people are genuine and hospitable, the fresh milk is exquisite, and the time flows slowly.
I have recently start a kitchen garden in the backyard of the intern house. Before planting seeds, it would be better to fertilize the soil and so I am preparing various rivets where the earth is mixed with cow manure and then covered by grass. These two lines you can see on the picture are the first. In the future there will be more as there is a lot of space available for cultivating vegetables and fruit trees, and enough water to sustain them.

 
In the meantime, together with Mandy, an American specialized in environmental and educational issues, and Adrien, from France, an expert in microfinance and biogas (as well as in manual labors), we are building an area with bricks and cement where we will store kitchen waste and transform it into fertile compost by applying vermiculture techniques. In the picture you can see it: we are working hard to make it efficient and upright, but however it looks, I am really enjoying this kind of work. Before coming here, I had never touched cement and now I play with it like a child in the sand.

Roberto helping to build the base for the 4 composting bin system

Staying here, I am learning new skills through experiences, both success and failure, and also coming into contact with local people who are generous and helpful. Here we have a true community who welcomes us and we must always respect their traditions and culture by following a code of conduct.
Apart from these activies, my role here is to be a WildLife Project Manager. I am the first intern who is engaged in this working area  and I have recently wrote a project proposal that, by my intentions, could be a good platform for further projects. It is simple academic research which intends to illustrate in a unassuming and exhaustive way the characteristics of natural areas nearby Dholbaha. It should be published on-line in order to increase awareness towards these wildlife areas, as well as eco-tourism. I have proposed this also because Educare India is linked with different Universities and collaborating with them could create a lot of opportunity for our organization.
I will discuss soon about my project proposal with the Project Director of EduCare, Mr. B. I look forward to finishing the planning stages of my project and its actual launch! Keep in touch ^_^

A Day in the Life of a ConservEN Intern

Never a dull day.Here Mandy and Gulshan are mixing cement for building the compost bins.

I currently live near the town of Dolbaha in the Indian state called Punjab. The house is lovely, but needs a lot of work. We are about a 15 minute walk into town (10 if you walk fast). I really enjoy this walk. Half of it is on quiet, rural roads where people greet you with a smile, and cows, water buffalo and goats graze lazily along the road, glancing casually your way but for the most part peaceably ignoring you. Dogs may run around, but none are aggressive. Parrots and parakeets will fly around squawking at times, and if you are lucky you will see a big, brilliantly blue peacock with his mate (sometimes entire flocks of them!). The second half of the walk is alongside a busier road, but still relaxed. I love walking by the elderly couple selling peanuts and a super delicious juice made fresh in front of you from sugar cane, ginger and lemon in water.

The house is one story with a flat roof that is great for lounging in the sun. Our house has three bedrooms, one communal dining room and a kitchen. The toilet and shower are apart from the house. You have to walk outside to use them, but they are nearby and the path is both lit and paved, so the inconvenience really is minimal. The house is yet to be painted, which is fun because we can choose any color or different colors. Electricity can go in and out all day but you get used to it.

Our Dholbaha house

Today I got up at 9:30 am. Actually, not 100% true. I WOKE up at 5 am! The temple nearby plays music V E R Y loudly in the wee morning hours before sunrise. As I grumpily got out of bed to search for my earplugs I thought about a book I once read that said the Mayan’s once believed that if a sacrifice was not made before the new  morning, the sun would not rise (I’m not sure this is entirely accurate, but it got stuck in my head!). I began thinking, seriously guys, the sun is coming up, the day will begin anew; you don’t need to BLAST Bollywood tunes. Someone said that people ring bells to wake the Gods, as they can be very lazy. So maybe that is what the temple is doing. I have visited it once, so next time perhaps I will ask. Until then, I grudgingly co-exist with the morning rituals.

The only other intern in the house was already outside working on the garden today. We were supposed to work on it together all morning. I hurried outside and grabbed a spade. He was digging ditches for water canals in a circular fashion. We divided the circle into four parts and I begin plowing the earth. It’s rocky and hard and with a small spade you have to work on your hands and knees. I was soon muddy, sweating, tired and had blisters on my hand. But nothing really beats working on the land. That’s why I came and I love it, so I can’t complain. It’s neat to see the progress and to imagine what it will look like in a few months, or in a year. Roberto, my housemate and co-intern, and I mapped out a plan for the landscaping: peas and green beans will be grown vertically up the walls, rhododendron will be planted in the two corners near the house and along the fence line, we’ll plant one tree in the middle of the plot and more along the fence in the back, and we’ll build 4 chambers for our “vermicompost” system. Nice! Now to get the trees and seeds!

We finished around noon and I went in to cut up some veggies and fruit for lunch. The local liaison office and logistics coordinator arrived late morning from our other center near Dharamshala. He came by to sort some issues we had with plumbing and our phone line and internet (which were not working). He agreed to help us visit some local nurseries to get some seedling fruit trees, and to also look for (ideally organic) seeds we could plant. If the seeds are not organic we must plant seed them over and over again for two years until they are. I mentioned that on a previous walk I had seen a local migrant community working in a tree nursery. We decided to all walk there after lunch.

It turns out the nursery is run/owned by the government. Its purpose is to cultivate native plant and tree species for reforestation efforts! We are excited by this news as Roberto had recently arrived to work in forestry and wildlife management, and is presently developing his own project to research and create informational and promotional pamphlets for the local community and tourists on the two wildlife sanctuaries in our area. He was also interested in reforestation efforts. We talked a bit (with Gulshan translating) with the foreman. He runs many nurseries for the government. The migrant family/community stays there to tend the plants. There were about 5 or 6 huts in all. I hope to get to know this community more and develop some projects with them. The friendly foreman was nice enough to give us four trees for our backyard: two guava and two local wood varieties! We should have guava growing in about a year, so I should be able to eat at least one fruit before I complete my fellowship.

On our way home Gulshan bought some Indian sweets made by a local farmer. I made some chai (spiced milk tea) and we sat around chatting and eating sweets and cookies and drinking our tea. It’s my favorite part of the day! Then a woman and her son stopped by asking to speak with Gulshan. I invited them for chai and we sat around chatting about village life, our home and the work we are doing, etc. She is the daughter of our landlady, it turns out, and wife to a local police officer. I had a bit of a scare with a strange man opening our gate in the evening and trying to come into our home, so she gave us some advice and told me the community was aware and that anyone would help if he came back. The man was not aggressive, just a bit strange, and had left when Roberto calmly escorted him out, so the danger is not high by any means. But it’s nice to know you live in a community that cares for one another.

I love this home and the place I am living and working! Sure, there are challenges, but a good attitude puts that to right easily. I gathered wood in the late afternoon and will cook some chana masala (spiced or curried chickpeas), heat up some more chai and sit around the fire with my housemate and two more interns who are arriving this evening. It’s been a great day and will surely be a lovely evening !

A beautiful sunset near our home in Dholbaha

SWASH Fun Club Trash Pickup Activity

SWASH Police in Action

 

Getting a little crazy at the trash dump!

It may be a new year, and while many of us feel as if we have a clean start, but here in Naddi (Northern India) the ground remains littered and the trash bins remain full. Luckily, the SWASH police come to the rescue!

On a cold Wednesday afternoon, the members of the Fun Club (a joint program with ConservEN and Young Women’s IDEA) gathered in the small Shenney community for the weekly activity with the kids. The youthful members are: Shika, Milan, Ragat, Pooja, Priya, Bobbi, Abu, Bindu, Shivani, Bungi, Isis, and Daikin. This week’s fun club would appear at first glance to be not so fun, but luckily this wasn’t the case. We aimed to do a community trash pick-up and then emptying the trash bins that had been set up around the community a month prior. The waste management system in Naddi is very underdeveloped, which is a common case in India. Garbage is littered everywhere, and although there are a few designated bins, they are almost never attended too.

The plan was to haul all of the waste across the village, to a larger maintained bin near the main road. Distributing the trash amongst ourselves in old canvas bags, we went on an adventure through the hilly terrain to the larger collection bin. Despite the comparatively labor-intensive nature of this fun club, we had a great turnout, and everyone stayed engaged throughout the activity. When we finally made it to the bin, all of the kids were rewarded with ice cream, which was a wonderful cap to a successful day.

In the future a more efficient method of waste management is being worked on, but this current method proved to be a blast as well!

These community clean-up days will happen twice a month. In addition to keeping Naddi a bit cleaner, they will hopefully inspire the kids of Shenney to take pride in their environment and make efforts to keep it clean on their own.

Little Sunnana with a big smile

Notes on our Homestays Project by the Project Manager

Etienne Berthelot (France), Project Manager of our Homestays project, one of our rural tourism initiatives with a group of young women in the rural community of Naddi- upper Dharamshala:

Homestays project manager, Etienne, in the upper right corner in traditional Indian costume. He is next to fellow French intern Clement, attending a village wedding party.

The Home Stays project is an eco-friendly microfinance project developed by the NGO EduCARE India and its affiliate programs MicroempowerED and ConservEN. The aim is to receive tourists for the touristic season in the home of a small village community called Naddi. This idea was born when working with Young Women Association (YWA), an association of women in the community that we are trying to empower. We realized that they have all extra rooms which they don’t use and by which they could try to make earnings.

So now EduCARE India and YWA are working hand in hand to try to realize this project by April 2013, the start of the touristic season in the Himalayas. We are a very motivated team composed of several interns which come from different Western countries. We share our experiences, ideas and philanthropy to make this project possible and to help the community.

It is a microfinance project because through small loans and financial skills we help the community to improve the state of their room and to organise, develop and advertise the project on a larger scale. Also we hold workshops with the female participants on a weekly basis on topics like housekeeping, cultural sensitivity or English lessons, so that they can be fully ready to receive tourists and to interact with them.

Additionally, the Homestays project is an eco-friendly project because the community is located on a small verdant hillside in the Himalayan Mountains. The community lives in harmony with nature and tries to get the maximum out of it by respecting it at the same time. There are plenty of animals like horses, goats or cows. It is an opportunity for the tourists to experience rural Indian lifestyle in interaction with the local culture and tradition and in a peaceful and quiet environment such as the Himalayan Mountains.

A typical homestays meeting with the village women’s group

In a personal point of view it is very interesting to try to implement this project in rural India because we face a lot of challenges and difficulties that we then solve by our team work. Indeed the gap between the western comforts and Indian rural life is a huge challenge. We try to make the rooms as cozy as possible by improving the local infrastructure. Moreover to teach the women how to provide services is also laborious but we do it with a positive attitude and we have a lot of fun with the women.

Spending so much time with the community on this project and teaching the women the art of western hospitality is very entertaining. This brings us closer and we forge friendships with these women. In return they do not hesitate to give us their own customs and show us that in India they also know how to receive guests. The guest is treated like a king in the Indian Hospitality culture and these women take care to remind this to us. All these exchanges and pleasant moments with the community allow us to build a lasting relationship of trust.

Like in every project you are working on it has its share of good and bad times. One of the bad moments was when we were trying to make each room of the community follow a standard quality of living. Some of the rooms were in a bad condition and we had to start from scratch. For example, some women were using their extra room as a cattle feed storage! This room should be ready to host tourists in few months! But one of our strengths in the work team is that we are very motivated, never defeatist; we never give up! This kind of challenge just makes the project more interesting for us.

This project is not fully launched yet, but we are well on the way to realizing it. It is only by the strength of our efforts and respect for the local culture that we can achieve it. There is still a lot of work, but fortunately we work very hard to make these homestays possible. I hope that we will create something that we allow this village to be sustainable for many years!

A traditional Gaddi village woman with the Himalayan backdrop, Naddi village

Himachal Pradesh Organic Farming Projects with Alice

It’s Winter in Naddi!

The winter season is truly upon Naddi. October, November, and December brought cold winds and light frosts, but January has brought snow! We woke up one recent morning to find all of the fields and mountains covered in a thick white blanket.

It remains to be seen how this snow will affect the gardens of the intern house and the community. Prior to the snow, the intern garden was still facing some issues. While the radishes and mustard seeds were growing well, the leeks and coriander were not. Also, I arrived back after Christmas break to find that our house owner had dumped a large pile of gravel over a quarter of our humble plot, essentially killing the hopeful garlic and turnips. He also asked that we give him our food scraps for his cow instead of “putting it in the ground” (composting). And while perhaps keeping the community’s animals fed is of greater importance, this is also an example of a larger issue we face with the organic farming project in Naddi. People here have been farming traditionally for years. How do we work with them to combine their traditional knowledge with our modern knowledge in order to create the most sustainable system?

Currently the community does have a system of composting. There are central piles of cow dung which are communally collected and then distributed onto the fields. The problems with this system are that the dung isn’t allowed to properly decompose, so it can actually be unhealthy for the soil (carrying potential parasites, for example). In addition, rains and winds take a toll on the unprotected piles, so that large amounts are lost. We are working with the Shenney community (a smallish familiar community within the larger Naddi community) to build a community compost center, using vermicompost (compost made of cow manure, straw, and organic food scraps; worms are added to the pile and left to compost for about 3 months). The hope is to create a system that is more efficient and more effective. In partnership with this project we are looking into building a biogas center, which was very well-received by the community at the most recent Young Women’s Association meeting ( a meeting with women ages 16 to 35). This would mean that all of the cow dung that is produced (and there’s a lot of it!) could be sued not only for compost but also to power the small propane stoves that most households have (although fire is still the prominent method of cooking). There is a government program in which they will subsidize the construction of the biogas unit, so right now we are figuring out an agreement. Hopefully construction will start next month (February/March).

In other news, what I will refer to as the “kitchen garden” project is under way. I have been saving plastic bottles and other materials, and am planting various seeds (coriander, parsley, mustard seed, fenugreek, etc.) in them. Once they germinate, I will distribute them amongst those interested in the Shenney community. The idea is to encourage community members to use any space available to grow food.

For instance, although many members might        not have appropriate land, they still have a large flat roof that can be utilized.

It’s hard to predict how this project will go, but with our great Naddi helpers, like little Priya to the left, you can’t help but have faith.