Just outside the city of Kathmandu, Bloom Nepal School has started its plan to rely on biogas — gas fuel obtained from decomposing organic waste — for their daily operations. The small school’s goal is to reduce reliance on the costly and unsustainable Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to zero by its second year. Wanting its local community to benefit as well, the school distributes the byproduct of the biogas to local farms as organic manure to promote organic farming.
Helping the process of distribution to farmers is Uttam Mishra, NYU Abu Dhabi Class of 2022. His internship this summer at Bloom school included allocating manure to the farms in the area by collecting data about their needs . With the area largely relying on agriculture as a livelihood, the byproduct manure is a welcomed support from the farming families.
This is not the first time the Nepalese student had worked with Bloom Nepal School. In his first year at NYUAD, Mishra had taken six months off his spring semester for personal reasons — one of which was to fill in for an urgently needed teaching position at the school.
Mishra Brothers’ Love for the Community
Mishra is not the only one who has been involved in community work with Bloom Nepal School. His older brother Chandan Mishra, a 2019 NYUAD alumni, headed home with every intention to give back to his beloved community. He serves as the executive director of Bloom Nepal School and was the mastermind behind the biogas project. The project also won the Zayed Sustainability Prize under the Category of Global High School in South Asia in 2020.
Read More: NYUAD Class of 2019 Alumnus Chandan Mishra Wins Zayed Sustainability Prize
The Social Impact Catalyst Program is the brainchild and collaborative efforts from our Volunteer and Community Outreach Office, Career Development Center, and Global Education Office. The program helps students secure remote, full-time volunteer positions for those who cannot return home and are looking for a summer internship program.
