From Garbage to Garden/Composting
Activity of composting “How kitchen waste is
decomposed into organic fertilizers” was carried out in
Youth Development Center Gilgit. Kitchen waste was
collected by YDC kitchen staff and lawn garbage was
collected by YDC boarders to perform this activity. In
Gilgit Baltistan no proper waste disposal/waste
management mechanism is available or adopted by
municipal committee and local government. Ms Husn
Bano shared techniques to avoid environmental
degradation through disposing off kitchen waste and
food for gardening. She involved whole YDC boarders
during this activity, so that they can easily compost
kitchen waste at their homes or farmyard.
The Highest of Distinctions is Service to Others
Ghulab-ud-Din, a
community
elder/representative
of village Balach, was
sensitized by Village
Disaster Management
Committee (VDMC)
Balach formed by the
Hashoo Foundation's
UNDP-sponsored
Community Based
Disaster Risk
Management
(CBDRM) project to
facilitate the
implementation of the
mentioned
intervention.
A devastating flash
flood in 2015 hit in
Kotigol rivulet
damaging the main
irrigation channel of
village Balach and
Singoor. The channel
was the only source of
water for domestic
utilization besides
cultivation of crops
and fruit orchards on
which depended
around 90% of the
community of both
villages—Balach and
Singoor. Locals started
irrigating their crops
and orchards with
hand-pumped water
primarily intended for
household use, which
created severe
shortage of potable
water in the entire
village. This badly
affected the yield of
crops and fruits in
village Balach and
Singoor of district
Chitral in 2015.
“Helping one human is
tantamount to helping
the entire humanity. As
a human being we
should give a helping
hand for the cause of
humanity, which is a
difficult task but not
impossible if it involves
effective community
mobilization the way
HF-UNDP Project team
did. Ideally every
community should
become self-sufficient
and capable to resolve
the issues of their
village. But it is a rare
phenomenon as there is
lack of awareness. I
would say that with
effective mobilization
drive the communities
could certainly become
resilient with increased
coping capacity”.
Ghulab motivated
locals to join the
efforts for repairing
the irrigation channel
to overcome perpetual
drought in the village.
This is how he
successfully mobilized
and gathered a huge
crowd of the villagers.
On Sunday 10th of
July 2016, Mr. Ghulab-
ud-Din led a group of
community volunteers
and member of
VDMC to repair the
irrigation channel and
after a strenuous
effort of one whole
day the blocked
channel was made
feasible for water
passage. Now the
entire community is
privileged and
conveniently using
water sources they
themselves restored. It
will further result in
flourishing their crops
and fruit orchards.
Mr. Gulab-Uddin busy at
rehabilitation work along with
community members and VDMC