Three new rooms at Deusa AFRC

The Agroforestry Resource Centre at Deusa, Solukhumbu is one of TGT’s flagship projects. It was originally concieved by our founder Robin Garton and Narayan Dhakhal (EcoHimal) and opened its doors in 2015.

Since opening it has gradually expanded, with new office space, kitchens, meeting spaces, bathrooms and accommodation being added each year. TGT has been supporting this process. Last month, work was completed on an extension to the kitchen and office block:

Three bedrooms have been added, which can accommodate up to nine people. Deusa AFRC hosts regular training events, these rooms will enable farmers to stay overnight so that two-day courses become possible for those living further away.

The additional rooms will also be used by tourists and visiting school groups. Our co-directors, Richard and Morgan will no doubt also get a chance to sleep there one day soon too!

Maintain Physical Distance

Last week we created a series of Social Media assets to help spread important messages on maintaining physical distance to stop the spread of Coronavirus in Nepal.

Please share these images via your Social Media channels

For use as a Facebook cover image.

Facebook cover image

Instagram / Facebook post

Instagram / Facebook post

Instagram / Facebook post

Instagram / Facebook post

Instagram / Facebook post

Instagram / Facebook post

Instagram / Facebook

Instagram / Facebook

Facebook cover image

Facebook cover image

Please share these images

Illustrations by Yogesh Khapandi (Kathmandu); the design work has been done by Diana Garcia (London) with text by Eco Himal Nepal. Thank you all.

We have been sharing these images via our social media channels: Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. A ‘boosted’ post over the weekend helped us to reach 155,000 people in Nepal.

Please feel free to download these images and share them to help the Physical Distancing message spread.

If you would like to tag The Glacier Trust on Twitter or Instagram, our handle is @theglaciertrust

UPDATE: Soap and Hope

On Tuesday April 14th, we launched #SOAPANDHOPE a campaign to raise funds to support our partner NGOs in their efforts to prevent a catastrophic spread of the deadly Coronavirus in Nepal.

We achieved our initial target of £2,000 within 48 hours and combined that with £2,000 from TGT’s reserves to send £4,000 to Nepal on Thursday 16th. In addition to this funding, we also secured a donation of 7,200 bars of soap from Unilever as part of their global COVID-19 handwashing campaign.

If you have already supported, thank you. If not, there is still time, the crowdfunder will remain open until Tuesday April 28th.

In this article we summarise the activity that has taken place so far.

EcoHimal Nepal

We have sent £3,000 to EcoHimal, they have also collected 3,600 bars of soap from a Unilever depot near Kathmandu.

EcoHimal are our largest NGO partner, we are working with them to enable climate change adaptation in three different districts in Nepal: Kavrepalanchok, Solukhumbu and the very remote Sankhuwashabha.

Essential supplies are loaded onto a jeep in Kathmandu for delivery to Solukhumbu

Working closely with Local Government and project officers on the ground EcoHimal have purchased and distributed a variety of supplies to our project locations:

• 2,592 bars of soap have been sent to Thulung Dhudhakoshi and Mahakulung (Solukhumbu) these will be used by families served by Deusa Agro Forestry Resource Centre;

• 1008 bars of soap have been sent to Mandan Deupur in Kavrepalanchok; these will be distributed to families served by Mandan Deupur Agro Forestry Resource Centre;

• 166 KGs of summer vegetable seeds have been bought and sent to Thulung Dhudhakoshi;

• Mahakulung has received the following items:

  • 5 PPE packs;

  • 3 fever scanning thermal guns;

  • 5 litres of glycerine;

  • 30 N95 masks;

  • 500 pairs of disposal gloves;

  • 20 bottle of hand sanitizer (500ml each); and

  • 300 triple layer protection face masks

• 150,000 Nepal Rupees (approx. £980) has been sent to Sankhuwashabha to support in transporting emergency food supplies;

• Plans are also being made to send food items to Waku, our project location in Mapya Dhudhakoshi (a more remote part of Solukhumbu).

HICODEF (Nawalparasi)

£1,000 has been sent to our NGO partner HICODEF who are based in Kawasoti, Nawalparasi, south central Nepal. They have also collected 3,600 free bars of soap from Unilever’s depot in Chitwan.

3,600 bars of Lux soap arrive at HICODEF’s offices in Kawasoti ready for distribution to the rural villages.

We have worked with HICODEF for over five years to enable climate change adaptation in the Himalayan foothills just north of Kawasoti.

TGT is currently enabling HICODEF’s Layer Farming for Adaptation project in Nawalparasi East. There are eight municipalities in this district. HICODEF has consulted closely with Local Government officials to decide on how to spend the £1,000.

Lockdown means that people aren’t able to work or earn money, few families have adequate savings, hunger is therefore the immediate and gravest danger.

• HICODEF has purchased 100 bags of rice. This will bolster the supplies Local Government is providing. The 25KG bags will be distributed equally across the eight municipalities, with a focus on the most deprived households.

• The 3,600 bars of soap supplied by Unilever will also be distributed equally across the eight municipalities.

Local Government will organise and manage the distribution of soap and rice, with remote support by HICODEF’s officers and managers in the community.

Our Crowdfunder, #SOAPANDHOPE will be live until Tuesday April 28th. The response has been fantastic so far, we are near to hitting our stretch target and hope to go beyond that to hopefully raise a total of £4,000. That will enable us to spend a further £2,000 on efforts to prevent a Coronvirus catastrophe in Nepal. Please support if you can.

Local Government's Monitoring Of MD AFRC, Kavre

A few weeks back Mrs. Nirmala Shahi, Deputy Mayor of Mandan Deupur Municipality of Kavreplanchok. EcoHimal have updated their website with more details.

Latest updates on #COVID-19 from our partners in Nepal

We are receiving regular updates from our partner NGOs in Nepal on the situation relating to COVID-19. We will relay these updates to you on this page.

UPDATED: 16.30 GMT: 27th March

From Narayan Dhakhal (Executive Director, EcoHimal Nepal, in Kathmandu)

Narayan is housebound in Kathmandu, but still directing operations for EcoHimal who have staff scattered around the country. He has sent several updates today:

The local government’s are asking for COVID-19 precaution kits, like masks, gloves, sanitizer, towel, soap, bucket, etc. for distribution and also support for the fever clinic operation tools like fever scanner and above mentioned goods including PPE. But it is difficult to buy in the moment and impossible to transport due to lockdown.

Nepal is sending a plane to china to bring PPE and distributed to the health workers. Other materials in the moment are not possible to buy, so it is not possible to assure, since government itself is in scarcity. I will let you know if there are any possibilities.

One more covid-19 positive found. Out of 802 people tested 3 are found positive, all are imported cases. The last case is in far west Nepal, he came home from the Middle East with the virus.

However, in general there is no COVID-19 outbreak yet, and hoping for not; no casualty yet, hope for not. We are concerned that because the border with India remains partially open, thousands of Nepali people entered and may have spread the virus around Nepal. That is not controllable even though everybody has been requested to stay in self quarantine. I doubt if they all follow that request. Therefore there might be many more imported cases.

So far supply of food and goods is not easy, but quite stable and no serious problem has been seen.

Specifically in relation to the situation in our project areas, Narayan told us:

I am regularly in touch with all staff members and working from home, most of my time is spent taking phone calls from different project sites and staff members.

Keshab Rai at Deusa AFRC is working from home and only coming to the AFRC to take care of plants and animal. Other activities have halted there.

I am collecting opinion from different staff members about their feelings. I will send you these tomorrow. I fear people might be exaggerating the situation in the name of different missions but the ground reality is different. The lock down will be extended for sure, but no idea how long? Maybe two more weeks? Let us hope for a better situation.

UPDATED: 11.45 GMT: 26th March

From Pabitra Majhi – Co-Founder GET-Nepal (via Mark Goddard)

Extraordinary scenes from the streets of Kathmandu. It is unlikely to ever have been this quiet. Note the extent to which the streets are being sprayed with disinfectant. Pabitra also updated that a Chinese company has donated 2,000 testing kits to Nepal.

UPDATED: 12.05 GMT: 25th March

From Sajana Bhadel – President of Girls Empowered By Travel -Nepal (GET-Nepal).

Today is the second day of Lock-down. Everything was closed Yesterday (Kathmandu). I think the situation will be same today. We basically follow this Facebook page for the updates: https://www.facebook.com/officialroutineofnepalbanda

Everything will be closed besides these services; Important Notice: Home Ministry has made it clear that emergency/essential services like Health, Security, Food (i.e Daal, Rice etc), Water, Milk, Electricity, Telecommunications, Information and Communication, Waste Management etc will not be closed.

In Southern Nepal, Birgunj city, Parsa district, GET-Nepal have organised some awareness programs regarding COVID_19 (Hygiene/handwashing) and they distributed some masks, but pics show no social distancing.

UPDATED: 11.30 GMT: 25th March

From Kanchan Kattel (Alumni TGT Higher Education Programme, in Kirtipur, Kathmandu)

So the whole country is under lock down. I'm locked up in the hostel with few other people and food for a week or so. Many people including my hostel mates rushed to villages few days ago (of course increasing the chances of transmission on the way and to the villages that were at much lower risk otherwise).

Only ambulance, health workers van, food/ fuel and pharmaceutical suppliers get the special pass to drive (probably the press too but not sure of that). Markets open up early in the morning for a hour or two and in the evening for few hours. This lock down is said to be for a week starting from 6 am yesterday but maybe it will extend looking at the situation. There's one positive case so far, the patient is the Nepali student who came all the way from France via Qatar Airways. Authorities are trying to trace her contacts and the passengers who came along with her. People are worried about the cases that are yet to be recorded.

UPDATED: 13.00 GMT: 24th March

From Dinanath Bhandari (TGT volunteer and Development professional based in Kathmandu)

Lock down has started. I hear news that people are obeying it mostly. But in the area where I am living in Kathmandu, house building goes on as usual and people are walking, some of them seems to collect essential items like drinking water. Especially those who live on daily wages, seem to keep on working.

UPDATED: 23.20 GMT: 23rd March

via Dinanath Bhandari (TGT volunteer, Kathmandu)

The Nepal Government has announced strict controls on all citizens:

These 8 decisions will be implemented from 6AM tomorrow (24th March)

1. No one should go out except for medical emergencies and food purchases.

2. All kinds of public and private vehicles are banned except for the permitted vehicles, and those used by medical professionals and security agencies. 

3. All domestic flights are halted except for the ones used by the security agencies and other designated flights. 

4. Related heads of offices should grant a leave except for the most essential services like health, security, food, water, milk, electricity, telecommunication, information and communication, customs, quarantine, garbage management. 

5. Except for drugs and health equipment manufacturing, food, water, milk, energy companies, all other private industries grant a leave to workers and staff. 

6. Businesses should manage ways to supply drugs and drugs-related material. Those hoarding goods, creating artificial shortage, black marketers, and obstructing supplies will be punished as per the law, and those goods will be confiscated and used in medical treatments. 

7. This order is implemented as per the Infectious Disease Act, 2020’s Subsection 2 of Section 2.  To implement this order, all chief district officers will be mobilized and the Local administration Act, 2028 will be activated. 

8. Those disobeying or obstructing the order as per the Infectious Disease Act, 2020  will be punished as mentioned in the Act.

https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/amp/these-8-decisions-will-be-implemented-from-6am-tomorrow/news.html.twig

UPDATED: 13.40 GMT: 20th March

From Narayan Dhakhal (Eco Himal)

Nepal Government has decided to lockdown gathering and movement of people in public areas from 22 March till 3rd of April 2020 until further notice. Our office remains closed and we will try to work from home as much as possible. I will notify all the staff members to stay at home and work if possible from there. Most of the staff has no such capacity. It means all of staff members will have sort of holiday.

This follows the Nepal PM’s address to the nation. More on that here: https://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/pm-oli-delivers-special-address-all-flights-suspended-from-march-to/

UPDATED: 11.30 GMT: 20th March

From Narayan Dhakhal (Eco Himal)

Narayan has sent thorough a photo of the COVID-19 health awareness posters Eco Himal are distributing across the communities we are working with.

Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is addressing the nation this evening.

UPDATED: 8.40 GMT: 19th March

From Richard Allen (TGT co-director (Nepal), Kathmandu)

Nepal Gov. still claims there is only one confirmed case in Nepal from January - recovered. Latest data that I have seen (from yesterday) 510 tests done, 510 negatives - but the panic is building.

More via Himalayan Times

UPDATED: 08.40 GMT: 19th March

From Surbir Sthapit (Executive Director, HICODEF, Nawalparasi)

We are together with local government working together to sensitize the communities in the working areas. As you know that the health system and facilities here in Nepal is very poor so we have give high priority for prevention. Furthermore we also decided to stop our field work that need mass gathering.

If you have some fund to spend for awareness of coronavirus would be great. 

UPDATED: 15.00 GMT: 18th March

From Dinanath Bhandari (TGT volunteer and Development professional based in Kathmandu)

The globalization of market system has connected everyone across the globe. When market is affected due to a disaster, it aggravates risk and impacts of disasters. Nepal is safe as of now from COVID19 but adverse effects of Corona affected market are already here. Our disaster preparedness is very weak; past efforts were heavily influenced by external donors, which did not develop country capacity properly. Now, global community is engaged to save themselves. We have opportunity to grow ourselves and build on our internal capacity to cope with disaster emergencies. We can start from self-discipline to obey safety rules and support government efforts.

UPDATED: 14:00 GMT 17th March

From Narayan Dhakhal (Executive Director Eco Himal Nepal, Kathmandu)

There is no outbreak of the Coronavirus except one student who arrived from china (so one imported case) on January 13. He was hospitalized and recovered well and discharged from the hospital. So far there are not any cases noticed officially.

However, Nepal is in highly danger zone and if the outbreak happens there is no real capacity of the government to take care of the people and treatment.

The economic impact is already high due to global situation. Food items, fuel and medicine are in shortage. Schools are going to close from 19th March. Big gatherings are restricted and people’s movement on the road has decreased over the last two days. There is high fear, but most of the people are still not aware of it. It is a sort of unknown. Village people are not really concern and daily life is not much affected. The rumour in the market and ground reality is different.

If there is question, how safe is Nepal from Coronavirus or COVID-19? It is not safe and highly is in risk. But luckily no suffering. Hope it will be not.

So far, all the organization [Eco Himal] is working as normal and trying to make some contingency plans.

We are going to have awareness program in the Mandan Deupur Municipality through making and sharing IEC (information education and communication) materials. We are planning to deliver 6-day programmes in two rounds.

Similarly, we are trying to educate people through radio.

Water management on the farm

The district of Kavrepalanchok in central Nepal is especially dry and one of the first to suffer water stress as the dry season enters its last few months. For farmers, it is essential they manage their water supplies carefully. They need to collect water when it does rain and use it as wisely and efficiently as possible all year round.

We’ve been sent some photo’s from our NGO partners that illustrate how water management techniques are being introduced in our project area, Mandan Deupur. This is an interesting case study in the ‘show don’t tell’ approach to education and training we enable in Nepal.

At the newly established Mandan Deupur Agro Forestry Resource Centre (MD AFRC), funded by TGT and the Marr Munning Trust, our NGO partners, Eco Himal Nepal. have been installing a new drip feed irrigation system at the centre’s plant nursery.

The system is fed by a water storage tank; which is filled just before watering time. Hosepipes are attached to the tank and laid out across the vegetable plot, or bed. The hosepipes are then pierced at precise intervals with a pin or thin nail to create a hole small enough for water to drip out and into the soil. Farmer’s fill the tank with just enough water so that none is wasted. It takes a bit of time to set the system up, but once it is up and running it saves both time and water!

This irrigation system not only helps the centre to use its own water supply as efficiently as possible, it is also a model of best practice that other farmers can copy and install themselves.

Core to the educational approach of MD AFRC is to ‘show not tell’, in fact it often goes further than that. Local farmers are invited to help with the installation of systems like this so that they can ‘action learn’ by getting hands-on experience of rigging up the bamboo stands, the tanks and the pipework.

We have secured funding to establish MD AFRC and it is doing well. However, we still urgently need more funds to help it grow and thrive. It will eventually achieve full financial self-sufficiency, but we need to support it through its start-up phase.

To make a donation and to support our project work in Nepal, please visit our donate page.

Before the stoves arrive

If you’ve been following our work over the last few months, you’ll know that we have been busy with our NGO partners EcoHimal Nepal trying to end indoor air pollution for 131 families in Sankhuwashabha (eastern Nepal).

Earlier this month we gave you a quick tour of the factory in Kathmandu where 131 tailor made smoke free cook stoves have been put together ready for transportation to the mountains.

However, this project is not light touch! EcoHimal do not wish to just build stoves and transport them up to two villages and hope that the families there will install and use them correctly. Far from it; we ensure that the stoves are just one part of a project that is wrapped up in education and training on health, climate, women’s empowerment and ecology.

This training effort starts before the stoves arrive. This photo essay features Anisha Kharel and Narayan Dhakhal from EcoHimal and their recent visit to Rukuma and Chepuwa villages in Sankhuwashabha.

First up, here’s Anisha (on the right)! She’s with one of the many children who start their lives in these high mountain environments. It is vulnerable children like this who really help us focus on why our work and this project in particular are important. Climate change is IN NO WAY THEIR FAULT and yet it will impact on their lives significantly.

Here Anisha is welcomed by the community; traditional greetings vary across Nepal, but there is always a welcome.

This is Chepuwa village, it is in the north-eastern corner of Sankhuwashabha, very close to the Tibet border. Thanks to this project, we will end indoor air pollution for every single household in this village!

This is Rukuma village, next door to Chepuwa; we will end indoor air pollution for every single home in this village too!

Training’s like these often happen outdoors, there’s more space, more light and, simply, its nice to be outside! Men and women gathered to listen to Anisha who is telling them about the adverse health and environmental impacts of traditional open hearth stoves - and why the stoves that will soon be arriving will improve things dramatically. Anisha is describing how deadly indoor air pollution can be. Thankfully the thick smoke they are so used to will come to an end when the new stoves are installed, but Anisha is stressing the danger Carbon Monoxide (CO) still poses if the new stoves aren’t correctly installed and maintained.

The training is not a one-way information transfer exercise; there is plenty of conversation; questions and opinions are answered and discussed.

Anisha and Narayan’s visit focused on ending indoor air pollution and the health and social benefits of doing this. They visited to help prepare families for the stoves that will soon be making their way to Chepuwa and Rukuma. This photo helps us imagine the ecological benefit the stoves will have too. Deforestation will decrease, more trees and forests (and therefore habitats) will be spared the axe as, thanks to the efficiency of the new stoves, the amount of wood needed to cook and heat homes decreases.

Narayan Dhakhal (in the white scarf) poses for a photo with the men and women whose lives will be changed by this project. For the women especially the benefits will be significant; the amount of smoke inhaled while cooking will reduce to almost zero. They will also have more time on their hands as the amount of wood fuel needed reduces; this is time they can put to another use, studying, leisure, farming, crafting, family time… whatever they choose.

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Soon the new stoves will be making their way up to Sankhuwashabha and the training effort will continue. EcoHimal have employed a project officer to work with the community to train them on correct installation and use of the stoves.

Health and safety is a vital concern, the stoves have chimneys that need to put in properly and then looked after. Families also need to be aware of the dangers of Carbon Monoxide and how to prevent it from building up. We will do a follow up story specifically on this soon.

All this work has been made possible thanks to a grant from IFAD to EcoHimal that was matched by those of you who donated to our Crowdfunder campaign in November 2019.

To enable us to do more work on climate change adaptation in Nepal, please consider signing up to donate £3 / month via text.

Ending indoor air pollution for 131 families

Back in November we launched a Crowdfunder campaign to end indoor air pollution for 131 families in Sankhuwashabha. We were blown away by how many people got involved in pledging support, spreading the word and offering help. 107 people donated a combined total of £10,949 in just 28 days! Many people donated a full £207 to fund an entire stove.

We smashed our original target and got pretty close to our ‘stretch’ target, which meant we were able to fund 42 smoke free cooking stoves to match the 89 already funded by IFAD (The International Fund for Agricultural Development).

This is the first of a series of updates on how the project is now progressing.

Our partner NGO EcoHimal Nepal paid a visit to a factory in Kathmandu in January to take a look at how the stoves are being fabricated. The photo’s below tell their own story, but first up, here is one of the images we used as part of the Crowdfunder - this is Mrs Sujani Gurung, one of the 30 people who took on a stove as part of our pilot project in 2018:

131 of these excellent, tailor made stoves are now very nearly ready to be loaded onto trucks and driven up to the wilds of Sankhuwashabha.

So, as Greg Wallace would say, let’s go inside the factory!

Metal rings that enclose the hot plates for the three hobs

A pyramid of chimney’s - the most important feature of the stove; smoke filled kitchens will soon be a thing of the past in Chepuwa and Rukuma villages, Sankhuwashabha

Conical chimney hoods that keep the rain out of the chimney; not to mention the many curious animals that live in Nepal’s mountains.

A look inside the stove before the hot plate and chimney are attached; you can see the roof of the oven chamber.

In the red coat is Narayan Dhakhal from EcoHimal, he’s checking the door to the oven opens and closes smoothly.

The stoves are designed to be robust, but also manoeuvrable, whilst trucks and tractor trailers carry the load for most of the journey from Kathmandu to Sankhuwashabha, the last few miles up to the villages can only be reached by foot, so the stoves need to be light enough to be carried.

Here are some almost complete stoves. In this photo, you can see the door to the furnace section; users need to keep this door shut to maximise wood burning efficiency. You can also see the three hobs and the base of the chimney.

Stacked and ready to be loaded onto to lorries for transportation to the mountains of eastern Nepal.