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Breakthroughs, progress and improvements in NePals' projects

Victoria K.
Victoria K. schrieb am 20.03.2019

Dear Pals,
 It has been exciting times for our project members, interns, partners, donors and Nepali friends. We were able to make immense progress within the water project in Devgaun, finally having run the water system as a whole and delivering the first drops of clean and safe drinking water! A big thank you to everyone involved!
 
We continued with the development of our existing projects and are working hard on a new one concerning recycling of plastic waste. You can find more information below!


The Clean Water Project: Breakthrough.

In Spring 2018 we found the ideal village for our project and vision of establishing a sustainable and autarkic water center. The center is supplying water for people in need and is run by a Nepali woman as a social entrepreneur. Water testings have proven the bad quality of water, leaving locals without an affordable alternative, apart from the contaminated water of the lake nearby. The exact project site was found at the property of the school, which will also enable kids the access to free and safe drinking water. Consequently, we started drilling, built a house, founded a local NGO and installed a water filtration system sponsored and installed by Autarcon.

5 months ago, we realized that the system indeed takes out a lot of unhealthy substances, but the water in turn gets contaminated with ammonium. With the support of Autarcon we started to reconsider all parts and processes of the filtration, trying to think of a solution that can take out ammonium without using additional chemicals. This brought us to the idea of a pre-filter, taking out ammonium within an oxidation process using different layers of sand and stones.

Starting in February 2019 we were very grateful to have Florian as a volunteering intern and engineer on board in Devgaun. Together with Fabien, Ashok and Adytia his mission was to build and install the pre-filter, as well as connect it to the already working system. The first step was to install the electrical system. To guarantee a sustainable and independent supply of energy we connected solar panels on the roof of the school, as you can see in the picture below. Then we plugged the batteries, the pump and later connected it to the overall system and it worked!



Following this, we built the pre-filter setting, which is a metallic structure, collecting different gravels and sand. Then we built the pipe inside the pre-filter tank, to put the whole system in place as shown in the drawing below. After several days of work, the pre-filter was in place.



In the meantime, we were looking for an operator for the water center through several interviews and continued to participate in the meetings of the NGO. We participated in two meetings with all the NGO members. During the first one, we explained the status of the filtration system. Within the second one, which was held just after the job interviews, we discussed the different operator candidates. Three women had been interviewed for the position of the social entrepreneur being responsible for the water center. The jury was composed of three members of the local NGO, and two members of the German NGO. Two women were appropriate for the job and after discussions one candidate was chosen. So far so good.



Mid-February, Florian welcomed Pradhyut and Florian Bader from Autarcon in Devgaun at the water project to install the full filtration machine (Special thanks to Florian and Phiippe and the AUTARCON GmbH for the huge support!). Also Marvin, one member from NePals e.V., arrived from Germany. Within four days they installed the whole filtering system. Florian and Pradhyut gave us valuable insights on how the filtering process works and what need to be done to maintain it as well as the next steps to adjust the settings. After these days of hard work, the guys could rest a bit in a Buddhist monastery near the place Buddha was born. Following, Marvin and Florian installed sensors to help follow and control the process of filtration, which can be controlled by an online system from Germany. Finally, the moment came to give out the first drops of water to the most curious kids after several water testings had proven the good quality of the water! Hurray!



Furthermore, Florian and Marvin were invited to visit the last day of the 10thgrade (kids around 17/18 years old) in the school where the water center is located. They hold a short speech, “a memorable moment” as Florian told us enthusiastically.


Education project: Progressing.

Ashok, Fabien and Florian also spent time with the children that we have been supporting for one year now in their new school. We started with some games and dances and talked about their dreams for the future. They drew some pictures expressing their wishes and to conclude this very nice afternoon, we distributed some candies and fruits.

All students are continuing their school year and progressing well. Together with the first cohort from Kathmandu, our volunteers Susanne und Gesche started a dance project. When they finish their choreography in that school, they will go to other schools to teach dance and encourage cultural exchange and ideas. The children of the second cohort received a camera and a laptop to get an introduction of using these technologies within their education.


The Recycling Project: Improving plastic waste recycling.




Last summer, we found a team that is led by Jonas, a Nepals e.V. member from Zeppelin University, to develop a new project concerning the recycling of plastic waste in the Parasi region. Although there is a garbage disposal system in place, it is not functioning properly and much of the garbage ends up in surrounding streets, rivers and forests which harms humans and animals. The idea is to create a cycle of trash collection and recycling that creates new jobs and reduces the waste on the streets. We want to achieve this by collecting waste through existing infrastructure, building a recycling facility and creating new use cases such as road construction, using plastic. In order to find partners in Nepal our intern Pierre, who is a road constructor from France, currently meets potential partners in Nepal from the private and public sector.

This new project is a very large undertaking which is why we have chosen to work in the incubator of Zeppelin University this semester to talk to experts that can help us to take on the future challenges. We have a business plan and calculations of how everything could look like and are now looking for potential partners. We are excited to take you on our biggest project yet and will keep you updated!


Thank you!
We would like to thank all sponsors and friends that supported us (including the donors on Betterplace.org, where we almost achieved our funding goal https://www.betterplace.org/de/projects/58198-hilf-nepal-zu-sauberem-trinkwasser)

Without all your outstanding support all this would not be possible! Special thanks to AUTARCON GmbH, WERTEFABRIK and Elobau-Stiftung!

Namaste