In collaboration with Good Earth Nepal.org and donations from the Schoeck Family Foundation, we’ve been touring earthbag projects near Kathmandu. We’ve seen numerous earthbag schools in our travels, but haven’t noticed any new conventionally built RCC/brick schools.
During two recent group presentations I asked the audience “How many conventionally built schools have been built in Nepal since the earthquakes?” They told me three schools have been built so far. Then I asked the manager and the chief engineer of Good Earth Nepal how many earthbag schools have been built in this same time period (one year). They told me they know of at least six earthbag schools that have been built so far. That’s twice as many as conventionally built schools! (This doesn’t include the earthbag schools built before the earthquakes of course.) This goes to show the power of grassroots movements like the earthbag movement happening now in Nepal. It’s great to be here and participate in this exciting experience. I feel like this is earthbag history in the making.