A year ago I was introduced to Krishna Gurung, a Nepali on tour in the states to raise awareness and funds for his eco-foundation. Leela, his wife, was with him - their deeper reason for being here was to begin the slow healing after losing a child. Kevin, their seven year old son, had died the previous December 21st; they had named their foundation in his honor - The Kevin Rohan Memorial Eco Foundation (KRMEF - http://krmecofoundation.org/).
They were also grieving leaving a previous sustainable village Krishna had been central in creating - Shanti Sewa Griha Village, http://krmecovillage.com/shanti-sewa-griha/ - due to jealousy by the foreign funders over the recognition Krishna had received for his role in developing that village for lepers and otherwise marginalized Nepalis (Krishna was runner-up in the BBC's World Challenge, http://www.theworldchallenge.co.uk/ ).
Krishna and Leela's parents are lepers; they grew up in a leprosarium and were child-hood friends. Nepali society is centered on three-generational families - Krishna's parents live with them now, along with their two teenage daughters.
Last fall, my wife, Beth, and I held a house party for Krishna and Leela; by the time they went home that night I knew I was going to Nepal to help him build his foundation and Beth was especially close to them as she had lost a daughter 15 years ago. Such a loss gives one a profound understanding, which opens up a deep connection between parents.
At last fall's DC Greenfest, we supported Krishna to have a booth and created a brochure and banners. That event was the catalyst for the KRMEF to get some traction. We also introduced Krishna to an NPR reporter who was writing an article on parents who had lost a child and how they had continued to get up in the morning and what actions they had taken to slowly live into their grief while honoring their children (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121403275 ).
The KRMEF embodies Kevin's spirit and creating and developing the foundation is a way for Krishna and Leela to continue their relationship with their son.
This past summer, I developed natural building methods to build with trash - Nepal is flooded with litter and Kathmandu is extremely polluted (they still drive with leaded gas, and there are thousands of motorcycles, which pollute more than cars).
Krishna speaks fairly good English and Leela less, and while I had met with Krishna a half-dozen times while here last fall and we saw Leela twice, I can't say we fully understood each other. Yet, when we landed in Kathmandu October 20th, we instantly were old friends and felt at home. This struck me at the time and I now realize why.
Whereas the Shanti Sewa Griha Village was a discrete village, to provide safe haven for otherwise ostracized people, the KRMEF is a vibrant, abundant, life-giving cell in the body of an existing village - Kharare - about 7 miles south of Kathmandu. The basic intention of the KRMEF - to be a catalyst for ecologically minded development of an existing village - is what most excites me about their work. And they have a broad agenda, from running a health clinic, expanding the community center (our next project there), creating an orphanage, developing a local school with a Waldorf inspired curriculum (the education system there is very rigid and life-depleting), teach biodynamic gardening, local and sustainable fuel production (such as bio-gas and solar cookers), planting trees, natural architecture, raising and selling local honey, use of local resources for making and selling crafts - and creating jobs through all of the above.
Going into Nepal as a westerner, I wasn't interested in thinking I had answers for them. I had some principles of natural building that worked with trash, but I wanted to develop these with their local knowledge and wisdom. Actually, I went mostly because I had a tremendous heart for Krishna and Leela and wanted to be a part of their lives and work.
It turns out the village has a lovely (well, all Nepali we met were lovely) 62 year old man who knows many things and has a twinkle in his eye (so like my dad had, who passed four years ago). He is also a bamboo craftsman and he built the frame and roof of the model home we created, flying around spindly bamboo members like a spider. He is the last villager who knows this craft and we're going to foster his training others as we build more homes there.
They had collected hundreds of bottles and sand and clay and paper and strong bodies and we began building, not being clear as to what we'd make. This project is meant as a model and test home, and it all came together remarkably……I think due to the love that surrounded all of our efforts.
In our three weeks in Nepal, I only saw two faces with that angered, intense, crazed look you see constantly in the states. Perhaps it's due to Hinduism and Buddhism peacefully coexisting with thousands of temples and shrines with hundreds of years of imbued energy; or constantly greeting people with hands in prayer union at your heart, smiling and saying, "namaste (I see the divine in you)." I don't know, but I do know I've never lived surrounded by so much heart and joy. And they are, by our standards, poor. It reminds me of one of my favorite sayings - to be rich is not to want. We in the west have so much, but we keep wanting more. We're spiritually empty, which turns the wheels of capitalism.
So we built - Beth and I, a couple of western volunteers, and many villagers.
Most spoke little or no English, yet we communicated through the heart with charades and gesture and smiles and the Nepali head bob which means, depending, "yes" or "I understand" or "ok" or "you're a crazy gringo but I love you!" Sometimes they would speak Nepali to us or we'd speak English to them and somehow we knew what they meant.
Natural building is primal - taking what the earth offers and making shelter. Nepal now offers trash, which actually is very good to build with. Bottles set on side are very strong and limit the needed earthen plaster - clay and sand w/ chopped up straw for tensile strength, which is time-consuming to make. We also added shredded trashed paper to the earthen plaster, which gives further tensile strength and is a filler along with the sand (the clay is the binder).
Please go to my blog - http://heliconworks.blogspot.com/2010/11/building-model-eco-home-for-homeless-in.html - to see the process of making the chhapro, which is Nepali for a humble working person's home (not at all derogatory).
As always, the paradox with building is the finished home isn’t the point. What is really being made are relationships, and nurturing and responding to others - both a place and people - is what we're here to do. We are known through relationship, and each relationship further connects us to the world around us and within our hearts.
I told Beth when we got home that we were a great team - I primarily focused on the container for the love and she deeply connected with everyone there. What we helped build will endure longer than the clay and sand and bamboo, and hopefully the bottles!
Since returning home, I am developing a network and infrastructure to build more homes (and love) there, a few drops in the ocean of their need. Krishna has a broad vision and needs help with each part; there are endless possibilities, and please contact me if you'd like to be a part this work.
