The organization’s boldly stated objective is ‘Impact through Action’ and with the help of over 400 members and many volunteers, they are cruising ahead.
Green Soldiers recently finished their 48th cleaning campaign.[break]
A team of friends started the cleaning mission on September 29, 2012, and after three months, in December, formally registered their organization.[break]
Nabin Gurung, General Secretary of Green Soldiers, speaks of how it came to be formed.
“All of us were from the tourism sector and we knew the importance of keeping our environment and surroundings clean. Our goal is to clean up Nepal from Swayambhu to Sagarmatha,” he says.
Green Soldiers wants to address the problem of plastics and waste management, and they are starting with the areas around Swayambhu. Mobilizing around 40 volunteers for their Saturday cleaning campaigns, they start off by picking up trash and plastics and other non-organic waste.
Because the founding members of Green Soldiers are in tourism, many tourists also step in for the Saturday cleaning campaign. Young people participate, either taking it as a lesson in awareness or contributing in that respect, or to simply socialize and have fun. The members and volunteers are divided into three groups, each comprising 25 members, and after a short warmup session, they concentrate on their work from 8 to 10 am.
The members assemble volunteers for their campaigns by talking to their friends who help spread the word.
Achut Gurung, president of the organization, points out that while they can easily assemble more than 100 volunteers each week, the strain on their funds prevents them from taking more.
He says, “Apart from some donations at times, we’re completely self-funded. We wanted funding but since we had to prepare a proposal, we decided it was too much work and dropped the idea. We provide tea, water, snacks, gloves and masks to the volunteers, and since we don’t have much fund, we can’t accept a lot of volunteers.”
People have been fairly encouraging their efforts and Achut remarks that older people come up to them and commend the work they have been continuing.
“They also tell us that they’ll send their children to help us. Some donate money while others help us by providing water,” he says.
One of their objectives is to make Swayambhu a plastic-free zone and Achut says that once they spread awareness and start implementing it, they will hand the monitoring over to the local police.
While focusing mainly on action, the group also takes time out to advocate about the need to preserve the sanctity of the environment and spread its awareness. They visit schools to talk to students about proper waste management and clean environment.
On World Environment Day, they organized a cycle rally and another cleaning campaign in which more than 500 people participated. Along with Green Soldiers, members of the Nepal Army, Armed Police Force and students also helped.
Aside from picking up non-biodegradable waste, their plan is to install garbage containers and place awareness signs.
“We’re also inspired by Allessandro Bernard, an Italian documentary filmmaker. He’s working on Waste Mandala which is basically about creating art from waste,” says Nabin.
Green Soldiers are also collaborating with Artlab on their Prasad Project. They clean up the areas near the art sites and have plans to set up waste bins.
The next few Saturdays they will be spending cleaning up Swayambhu, Thamel and Naya Bazaar.
To mark the occasion of World Tourism Day on September 27, the group will participate in a rally along with other businesses from tourism sectors.
“We’ll be recruiting members and also cleaning up to show that action is important,” outlines Achut.
Green Soldiers will be celebrating their first-year anniversary with their usual cleaning campaign followed by a blood donation program.
“Despite the government allocating money and manpower to handle waste management, there’s no efficiency yet. So we’ll continue with our own cleaning campaigns,” he says.
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