Dr. Deepanjali held a special health training class for the single women activists to enhance their understanding of holistic health. Her aim was to enable them to explain this approach to dealing with medical problems better during their meetings with women in the villages. She also talked about the role of diet and exercise, sleep and drinking enough water in achieving a healthy lifestyle. The women enthusiastically participated in the class, sharing their personal experiences and discussing how to approach topics normally considered taboo among the village people.

From practicing yoga, dancing in rivers, exploring the farm and catching up with homework to painting rocks, and being involved in environmental clean-up, children from the local primary school are enjoying a rich variety of activities while the school is on holiday this month.

International Yoga Day was celebrated at Nishtha by our staff who took part in a special session with Shivani Saadho. They were particularly pleased to learn asanas which help with back pain by strengthening the lumbar region and they enjoyed the breathing exercises and chanting meditation. Shivani said: “I have taught yoga to a lot of groups but what I experienced today was very beautiful, your depth of silence was very intense and I think that by working in the Nishtha atmosphere you have reached a space that a great many people aspire to”.

Nishtha farm team are testing the soil from different plots to see what nutrients may be lacking or in excess. Niklas, our Austrian Volunteer who is a keen student of permaculture will look up what needs to be done to correct the deficiencies and what crops will grow best in this soil type.

Wenlido training – developing confidence and strength! Ravindra and Deepa were reunited again in running a Wenlido program for 14 village girls. Neelam, our enthusiastic trainer trainee assisted, in making it a very lively and beneficial three days. The staff all worked together to provide snacks and meals for the girls each day.

World Environment Day was celebrated in Rakkar with a vigorous clean up and street play performed by the children. Up in McLeod Ganj and in Bhagsunath the crowds were delighted by the flash mob performed by members of the Dharamshala Environment Group.

Every product these days is packaged in non-recyclable soft plastic which ends up along the sides of the road, clogging rivers and water channels or filling up dump sites. Nishtha collects clean segregated soft plastic waste from the villagers and re-cycles it as plastic building blocks. Come and see our work!

Our aim is to promote organic farming methods and experiment with ways of improving the quality of the earth on marginal plots to make it more productive for subsistence farmers. We encourage people to grow local varieties and to make compost. We spread awareness of how using of chemical fertilizers and insecticides damages the earth, destroying its power. We teach people the value of preserving local seeds, saving their own and avoiding using genetically modified seed.

Dharamshala Environment Preservation Network, a group of 8 local organisations determined to work together to tackle the ever growing garbage issue, met at Nishtha last week. As well as learning how to make natural soap under the expert guidance of Tenzin Palmo, an English teacher from TCV school, they discussed how to take the opportunity on Environment day to spread awareness of the importance of  each one of us taking responsibility for the proper disposal of our own waste. Nishtha was proud to host this event and provided tea and snacks to all the participants.

Integral to our work to upgrade the health of the village, since 1998 we have been running a school nutrition programme which continues to be very successful in the village school. Nishtha augments the very basic meal provided by the Government by providing protein rich supplements as well as vegetables and fruits.