Cultivated lands are defined by the traditional water channels that divert snow-melt from many kilometres up-valley to be used for all aspects of daily life within the village. Within the quiet reserve of mustard seed crops, rice fields, boysenberry scrub, frigid streams and swaying poplar trees, life is rich; sustained by the land, crafted by touch and carried by belief. Beyond, the desolate, unforgiving glacial debris stretches across the shifting valley tundra to the serrated mountain geology, exposing the ancient landscape to a millennia of ice, wind and sun.
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Three months volunteering with a social enterprise outpost in the far North Indian Himalayas.
Within a small team we engaged the community to develop and implement numerous building projects affecting the local agriculture system, the local children’s school, Hemis Monastery various individual households and our Ladakhi host family.
All projects required an economic, social and environmental response through design, engagement, implementation and operation phases. Some of the projects included a solar greenhouse for high-altitude desert regions constructed with recycled plastic bottles and a hydro powered prayer wheel.Three months volunteering with a social enterprise outpost in the far North Indian Himalayas.
Within a small team we engaged the community to develop and implement numerous building projects affecting the local agriculture system, the local children’s school, Hemis Monastery various individual households and our Ladakhi host family.
All projects required an economic, social and environmental response through design, engagement, implementation and operation phases. Some of the projects included a solar greenhouse for high-altitude desert regions constructed with recycled plastic bottles and a hydro powered prayer wheel.