For many of us, dreams are about “getting” something; they’re selfish….For Dhurba, dreaming means giving.
“My parents are farmers. I never finished school.” He came from a poor village in the jungles of Nepal and worked as a waiter to tourists who came on safari. One day at the restaurant – he had a long chat – with a couple – visiting from the Netherlands. They asked him – an unusual question: “They asked me my dream and I was surprised a little bit.”
But with NO cash, to make his dream come true, Dhruba forgot about his dream and the Dutch tourists. “Then after 5 -6 months they send me the letter. The say we have money for you and please send us your back account. and I was surprised. I couldn’t believe it. I thought they were making a joke.”
With a backpack full of cash – Dhurba bought land from a rice farmer and starting building a hotel. A hotel he named “Sapana Village”. “Sapana means dream and I work for the dream.” Sapana Village looked nothing like other hotels in the jungle. He built his lodges to look like a traditional Tharu village. “Tharu are the original people and they should get something back from the tourism but nothing they get.”
So in addition to the typical tourist activities – elephants rides and safari trips – Dhurba asked Tharu families to show his guests their traditional ways of life. “And 50% of the profit go to the local community”. Dhurba now puts his profits in local development projects.
For many of us, dreams are about “getting” something; they’re selfish….For Dhurba, dreaming means giving.
Find out more about Dhurba and the development projects his Sapana Village are spearheading at sapanalodge.com.
Music by Binod Katuwal: youtube.com/channel/UCSLPg–3m41JPZh7EgiYuiA
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An earthquake in 2003 destroyed the 1000 year old city of mud: Arg-e Bam. Iran’s cultural heritage expert, Hadi Admadi, was there from the first day. He was witness and then expert in helping to rebuild the ancient city. His work was critical in the rebuilding process during the first years after the earthquake.
BAM EARTHQUAKE 2013
‘When I arrived there, everything was destroyed. There were bodies on the streets. Everything had collapsed.
Arg-e Bam city, the city that we know now, dates back to 2500 years before. A very beautiful, big castle, a mud-brick castle. Everyone knows Arg-e Bam as a symbol of earthen architecture in Iran.”
“Some experts argued that we have to rebuild the Arg-e Bam citadel as it was – with the same materials and same methods – just keep the tradition keep the authenticity. Other believed that we have to reconstruct Bam with new materials and totally rebuild it. The middle decision between these two groups was to rebuild Arg-e Bam by using traditional materials but using modern methods.”
“With the knowledge we have now about mud brick, soil an clay – we can make the best mud brick possible. Everything in Bam is still made with mud bricks.”
“Mud brick technology hasn’t changed so much until now. First they take the mud and put it in a timber frame. Then they remove the timber, put it under the sun to dry it. It’s just that simple.”
“The scientific part is concerned with the kind of soil we use, and the type of additives and how we put them together. We add things to the mud brick – usually straw – to increase the resistance of the bricks to crack. German experts from Dresden University used new materials in getting mud bricks to stick to the wall such as fiberglass. The Iranian part used a palm tree rope to use in building domes.”
“Archeologists found a lot of things. Before the earthquake everybody thought it maybe dates back 2,500 years ago but they didn’t know what had happened inside the walls, underneath the houses.”
“Now you can see a beautiful, clean city, alleys, the bazaar, buildings. You can see several workshops with laborers and masters who are actuality rebuilding and restoring the destroyed buildings. You can see a lot of scaffolding who are working to rebuild Bam.”
“All Iranians were united about rebuilding Bam – and also the world. If everybody wants it, the huge destruction, the huge disaster, could be solved, if everybody works together.”
For more on BAM, watch this unedited interview with Mr. Admadi.
OXLAEY