Tulasi Parajuli
Born
and raised on the hillsides above Bamdi, Tulasi has witnessed
first hand the devastating landslides that rampage the valley
every monsoon. Tulasi's mother was widowed when he was 2 years
old. Tulasi intimately knows the horror that faces a woman
widowed in Nepal.
Tulasi
has worked with various western organizations since his
youth. First with a Finnish organization who planted great
acreages of quickly growing trees over much of the landslide
wasted land. And then working with Jaica (from Japan) who
did considerable work introducing outside crops and agricultural
techniques. This experience has taught him many of the things
that work best for Nepal. He has witnessed what works and what
doesn't as far as helping women and the environment that is his
home.His
experience, intelligence, creativity and his love for all the
people of the Harpan river
valley, have been the roots and soil from which The Bamboo's
Secret has grown.
Tulasi
so believes that this project is the best road to really serve
his homeland that he has invested himself totally since November
of '99. His honorable reputation and respect in his
community has been absolutely essential throughout the whole of
this project. Tulasi
is currently the managing director of Nepali
operations. His job is to manage the school, the
nursery, co-ordination of wasteland recovery projects, as well
as communications between Nepal and the American offices.
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Anam Kinsey
Raised
on the American west coast in a family that spent excessive time
exploring the wilderness, Anam has passed a major portion of his
life on the outer edges of civilization. He has been
passionately in love with Nepal and it's people since his first
glimpse from the airplane window in 1993. Since then he has
spent over 3 years living in Nepal intimately involved with
Nepali people.
His experience has convinced him that environmental solutions
must and can be self supportive, at least in the long run.
The people involved have to keep winning or they won't keep
trying.
His
wide range of experiences and education have lent vision, believability
and realism to Tulasi's dream of improving the well being of his
homeland. Anam has been "totally in love" with the
idea since his was hired by Tulasi in November of '99 to research
the marketability of bamboo. The dream captivated him from
the beginning and soon his research revealed the intelligence of
utilizing Bamboo to address the terrible suffering that he
witnessed daily. Since then his commitment has been
unshakable, and he has devoted himself to the support and
work-ability of the Project.
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The
7 members of The Bamboo's Secret -Nepal
The staff at the nursery
The women at the school The
Women's Environmental Development Association
Through
their support we have found ourselves welcome in the Bamdi
area. They are our main instrument in arranging volunteer
crews as well as the difficult task of encouraging local
villages to support us in establishing Bamboo forests on their
waste lands. They will be the managers of the women's bamboo management cooperatives as they
develop in the local villages.
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The
People of Bamdi
The
area surrounding the small riverside village of Bamdi, provides
us with our five permanent nursery staff. The occasional
crews which supply us with jungle compost and plant
"erosion resistant" bamboo and grasses on the steep barren
hillsides, are always a great help. Through their warm,
gracious support we have been given custody of the nursery,
school and a large area above the village to plant Bamboo on.
The
People of Nepal
All
over Asia the song of the Sacred Bamboo is being heard and
harkened to. From Australia to Siberia, the Philippines to
Afghanistan,
bamboo is being recognized as the miracle solution to a myriad
of problems. The Nepali people are always quick to
understand the overall value that Bamboo offers and are rapidly
coming to realize that it's potential may well be beyond imagination.
The
People of Earth
The
first-world culture, where ever you find it, displays notoriously
voracious behavior as part of it's nature.
So many of Earth's new problems are a result of this
appetite. The Earth is finding more and more ecological,
intelligent solutions in the miracle that is the Bamboo's
secret. |
