The 2015 earthquake in Nepal left hundreds of thousands of families without homes, and powerfully transformed the lives of millions of people across the country – none more effected than the children who overnight lost their families and their communities. On April 25th hundreds of children suddenly became orphans.. For the last 2 years, some of these children have been living in a temporary space on rented land about 1 hour walk from the Conscious Impact camp at The Everest Children's Home. Now it's time for a permanent home.

Once the second floor has been completed, the construction will use more than 10,000 of our Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks (CSEBs), made locally with sustainable materials. With 8 rooms, a library, 3 toilets and a kitchen/dining hall, the orphanage will eventually be able to house as many as 30 children.  Our hope is that this project will be a home to children in need for years to come, and will also represent one of the most beautiful and earthquake-safe structures in the region.

In collaboration with Back to Earth, we built an earthbag home for local community member, Sunita Tamang. Sunita has been raising her three children on her own while working since she lost her husband just before the 2015 earthquakes. After nearly four months of construction, Sunita now has a new earthquake-resistant home which is the first of it's kind in her community. Each course of bags were laid and plastered by a team of Nepali masons and international volunteers. 

The Nawalpur Community & Youth Center was built with Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks (CSEBs) by our team of Nepalis and international volunteers. This project took almost 4 months to complete and we hope it will provide a safe learning and sharing space for youth in the region for decades to come. 

In collaboration with Back to Earth, an organization specializing in earthen building, we built a rammed earth office and meeting hall for the local women's financial cooperative. The Women's Co-op currently functions as a micro-finance group with approximately 730 members from various households in the Nawalpur district. Each month, the women pay a membership fee of 100 rupees (1 USD) which qualifies them to apply for loans anywhere from 5,000 to 50,000 rupees. Most families in our area are practicing agriculturists whose work simply provides enough for basic necessities. These loans allow opportunities to invest in livestock, provide simple necessities for their households, or manage a medical emergency. Rammed earth is an ancient building method which is simple to construct with local materials, affordable, strong, and durable.

Our volunteer team worked alongside local skilled masons to rebuild the Siddhartha Primary School using CSEBs produced in Takure. Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks (CSEBs) are load-bearing. However, the existing steel structure survived the earthquake, but the stone walls, which were built around the steel, were badly damaged. Our team demolished the remainders of the previous walls, built extensive retaining walls around the site, and prepared foundations for the new CSEB walls. We built three units which provided six classrooms, an office, and three latrines. The school, reinforced with rebar, now provides a safe learning space for approximately 60 students and was our first demonstration of alternative building techniques. 

Many thanks to architect Fred Dolmans, of GroundUp, a registered architectural consultancy that offers professional design expertise and sustainable solutions in locations around the world.