The Ama Ghar kids are required to do community service projects, so they learn the importance of helping others. Five of our kids chose to help the Sattya Arts Collective on their project to clean up Hariyo Chowk and turn it into a public space. Here’s what Sattya said about Ama Ghar on their page in kickstarter.com:
“In Nepal, a chowk is a public square or courtyard. Chowks are community spaces and social hubs, centers of activity where goods and ideas are exchanged. Over this spring and summer, Sattya Media Arts Collective is setting out to transform our courtyard space into a modern adaptation of the traditional chowk – Hariyo Chowk, a ‘green square’ that will be a space to share art and knowledge about sustainable living.
Today is Sattya’s One Year Anniversary Event, so we are busy preparing everything…including Hariyo Chowk, where there will be a booth today with information, photos, recycled art, workshops, and more! This Thursday, as we were cleaning up the chowk, we had 5 kids from Ama Ghar Orphanage (located an 2 hours away!) show up at our door wanting to help and wanting to work HARD. They were great and we look forward to seeing more of them!
Srijana (second from right) and Rama (far right) help the members of the Sattya Arts Collective transform the chowk into a friendly green urban space.
They are helping us turn a vacant plot of land in Kathmandu into a vibrant urban green space with gardens, outdoor arts areas, and structures made of reused materials. We’ve been improving the space for the past 3 months with friends and community. As Kathmandu rapidly urbanizes, there are fewer and fewer green spaces left in a city that was not very long ago known for its strong tradition of urban farming. Building on this tradition, Hariyo Chowk will be a place to experiment, demonstrate and educate about topics like organic gardening, composting, recycling, building with natural materials, and simple low-impact technologies. In addition, it will also be a much-needed gathering and exhibition space for artists and the community.”