Nishtha NGO was represented by Vijay at a dialogue held the Tibetan Centre for Conflict Resolution on creating peace and harmony. Such meetings of a broad range of local people in the local community are a very valuable way of helping the people of Dharamsala and McLeod Ganj come to understand and appreciate each other. It was agreed that joint activities, especially those aimed at protecting the environment and sharing workspaces such as in hotels and restaurants go a long way to creating the wonderful atmosphere we all cherish.

Our team are out again clearing garbage. How can it be that people cannot see how their dumped waste destroys the breathtaking beauty of our land?

The Rakkar ground was abuzz on Tuesday when the children put on a splendid performance of the Ramayana to celebrate Dusshera. Almost word perfect they gestured and declaimed with great confidence to the delight of the crowd. Our sponsorship students opened the show by performing a local song and a lovely variation of the Gaddhi dance developed during their classes with local musicians Vandhana and Rishi. Vijay Bhardwaj encouraged the crowd to remember to segregate their waste and together with Mohinder sang his now famous environment song accompanied by dolak and chimta. We are very grateful to the Rakkar Youth Club for hosting this event.

Up to seven children with disabilities are picked up from their homes each morning in the Nishtha van and taken to the special school and physiotherapy facility run by the Chinmaya Tapawan Trust.

Throwing garbage along the road is both inappropriate and highly disrespectful of society and the environment. Alone we cannot survive – we depend on both society and the environment in every aspect of our lives so why do we treat them with such distain?

The Rakkar playground needed urgent attention as the drainage channel that cuts across it was leaking, forming large puddles under the swings. Our team worked hard to clear the channel of overgrowth and pack the leaks with clay. It is very likely that we will have to wait until it is dry and then re-lay the base of the channel with concrete to ensure the smooth flow of water. We are proud to do this for our village but would sincerely appreciate local contributions to this work!

We have a very excited crowd of children these days as they are practicing for their performance of the Ram Lila which is to take place on Rakkar Ground on 24th October. Vijay, Ankush and Ravindra have written out a script which the children are learning so as to audition for the key parts. It’s a heavy competition!

Ravi, our new Austrian civil service volunteer is a qualified and dedicated gardener. In order to improve the fertility of our soil he is showing our team how, if you burn wood to make biochar and add it to compost it will greatly assist in carbon storage and water retention which is very necessary during the dry seasons in this area. We look forward to increased vegetable crops!

The bright October skies draw the children down to the playground to joyfully rediscover the equipment.

Recycling plastic by melting it down releases more CO2 than it saves. Nishtha recycles soft plastic into building blocks which when sealed in concrete pose no threat to the environment. Support our effort by sorting your waste and delivering sacks of clean soft plastic to Nishtha. Reduce – Reuse – Recycle