No less than 70 garbage hotspots have been identified by satellite mapping all across Himachal Pradesh. Immediate targeted action is required to educate the public and provide real solutions to the serious issue of waste management that affect us all.

A vibrant and charming performance by the participants of a recently concluded Kathak dance workshop led by Annu Gupta was held in Nishtha Community Centre on Sunday. Four of the performers were Nishtha sponsored students who proudly showed off their new talents to the rest of the students and friends of Nishtha. It was inspiring to see the level of concentration, team work and expression achieved during through this short but intense training.

It is shocking to see how Dharamshala’s new fancy smart city garbage bins are neither emptied frequently nor used with any care.

We were delighted to host our first group of students from abroad for a very long time! Six students and their teachers from the US enjoyed visiting our clinic and community centre, hearing about our work, meeting our students and staff and playing with the children.

Plastic contains substances which can cause cancers, genetic mutations and damage to human reproduction if they leach into water supplies. Plastic waste dumped like this by the side of the river is being washed into the stream during the monsoon rains and ends up in reservoirs from which drinking water for countless communities downstream is taken. Please think about the damage you do when you carelessly dump your plastic waste.

At last, the sun has come out and the children at the Nag Mandir kindergarten are able to enjoy their play centre. Fond thoughts of Jenny who passed away earlier this year for her very kind gift.

Great growth on the farm with pumpkins lady fingers, bitter gourd and turmeric flourishing. The worms in the compost are multiplying nicely too!

During this rainy season many people are suffering from eye flu. Dr Shreya uses the health camp to show a group of village women how to make a soothing eye wash by boiling water with rose petals which have anti-inflammatory properties and cool it in the refrigerator. She carefully explains how the infection is passed along through touching the eyes with contaminated hands so they should to wash their hands often and bath their children’s eyes with this cool rose water when they come home from school.

Thank you to Austrian Civil Servant Florian who has come to the end of his year working with us. You have been a huge help to our team in a wide variety of areas from painting the play equipment and playing with the children to re-making the stitching women’s website and setting up and organising the screen printing of our new bags. It has been great having you Florian!

Devastating monsoon rains have caused damage all over Himachal Pradesh. A small bridge on the road above Nishtha was washed out by a flash flood causing great inconvenience to the local people. Fortunately we can approach the schools we provide extra nutrition to by car from another side but many daily workers including two of the women who work as Nishtha carers for special children have much further to walk every day.