By Isabella Kazanecki, 08/08/2017. After Varanasi we found our way to Nepal as a respite from the at times unbearable chaos of India.  In addition to this, my travel partner and best friend,  Zoya had been wanting to reunite with family members she hadn’t seen in awhile.  Because of our proximity, we couldn’t resist and we are now staying in Kathmandu at her great aunt (Ama), uncle (Baba), and cousin Pratigya’s beautiful home.  On our first day, we went to the Botanical Gardens.  I had been to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens before and expected simply a different array of plant species but instead I was faced with an altogether different approach to a Botanical Garden.  This space was not only meant as a pretty green space for picture taking and relaxation but a space for the appreciation and teaching about the many uses of plants.  Under each species name was also a description of the medicinal and daily uses of the plant.  I learned that the roots of two out of the twenty one different species of Berberis in Nepal are useful for their antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, and anticancer properties, the young leaf can be chewed to prevent tooth decay, farmers make animal-proof fences from the spiny branches to protect fields, and the crushed bark can even be given to animals with stomach problems.  Each species had these descriptions which included more than what I listed and addressed every part of the plant. This is something I would never see in an American garden while we are hooked on the more chemical solutions to our medical problems.  

Signage even gave credit and spoke of protecting indigenous knowledge.  The picture of the sign to the left reads, “The main purpose of the establishment of this garden is to protect indigenous knowledge, skill, and technology of local Tamang community related to plants and providing knowledge to visitors.”  Zoya also reminded me then that when she attended pre-school in Nepal she had to learn botanical names and applications of plants even at her young age.  This is when I first began to see the emphasis on and appreciation for nature that I had not seen in India, and this interested me greatly.

Take bananas for example.  Produce on the fruit stands that pepper the roads of the city look different from those I see at home or even in India, they are less perfect, lumpy, and their numbers fluctuate according to the day.  I learned that Nepal doesn’t follow the trend of genetic modification in accordance to the fact that the produce I see in these stands are coming from someone’s backyard, which I learned after visiting Zoya’s family’s village called Dhapakel where they and their neighbors grow primarily corn and sell it on the roadside.  Starting in the 60’s, India had their “Green Revolution,” where pesticides, insecticides, and synthetic fertilizers were used to increase produce outputs in efforts to feed India’s exponentially growing population.  I’d like to do further research on this but I found that the real green revolution is happening in Nepal right now.  Most families in Kathmandu that I visited have their own gardens to grow their own fruits and vegetables which they care for with compost they collect from their homes

(Here I am thinking composting was invented by New York yuppies), power their homes with solar energy, and have their own decentralised filtration systems, the very same kind that Dr. Mahreen Matto is currently fighting for in India.  Streetlights are also powered by solar energy and even autorickshaws are battery operated.  One day we visited a home and one of Zoya’s relatives proudly gave me a tour of his dual step water filtration system on his property as well as the solar panels on his rooftop.  He explained to me that they can not rely on the government to provide them with clean water and that most people living in Kathmandu Valleyhave taken the matter into their own hands.  I find this interesting because it allows water, something that has been turned into a commodity, to work under the radar and eschew regulation from the government.  The people I’ve spoken to acknowledge this and informed me that the government is indeed displeased but they have yet to figure out how to assert power in this situation or in the words of local people, they aren’t strong enough, organized enough, or smart enough, to tackle such a large project.

This brings me to my talk with Prakash Amatya.  I was referred to speak to Prakash by Dr. Mahreen Matto in Delhi when she heard that I would be in Kathmandu.  I contacted Prakash and we set up a time to chat on my last day.  Prakash works with a non-profit organization called Guthi, which I later learned means “truth” in Nepali.  He is the program coordinator there.  Guthi works on fair, sustainable, and accessible water management, especially for low income communities.  I found that Guthi was the perfect example of a grassroots organization that makes a difference in their community and uses sustainable and innovative techniques to tackle the water crisis they are faced with.  In addition to their public toilet project, they have a great rainwater harvesting project in the works, directed at helping schools for poor children.  I found this refreshing because it was a change from the common approach of letting the upper class have first dibs on innovative technology.  Guthi uses rainwater harvesting as a tool to conserve water, recharge aquifers, and allow people to not rely on government regulated water supplies.  Prakash showed me a diagram of the standard system they build in schools, which utilizes a simple rapid sand filter and a storage tank.  When the storage tank is full with all the water that the school needs, the overflow is piped back into the ground to recharge aquifers.  It is a simple system but highly useful and impactful.  It also turns out that rainwater harvesting isn’t that new of an idea either.  The age old technique has simply been to collect rainwater in buckets on the roof.  Apparently rain water is softer than groundwater, meaning it contains less minerals which is useful for better results when washing clothes.  Prakash showed me the rooftop just next door and sure enough they had two full buckets thanks to the rainy season.