GLOBAL NEWS
MANILA SECTOR
Vietnam
Update on the Hochiminh City Master Unit Development
By Didi Ananda Carushila’
In April we sent the news of our project to Beahrs ELP Alumni network to promote our sustainable programs and they added our project to their website. Please check the following link to see our listing.
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs033/1102296512983/archive/1109770629831.html
In May, three architects visited our master unit. They surveyed the land and helped us to make a master plan. The Master Unit committee has visited Phanthiet and Phanrang with a professor of neem trees. We have a plan to plant a neem tree forest. We went to those provinces because the Vietnam government has neem tree projects there and we got information about how to plant and take care of neem trees. The professor promised to help us with this project. The neem tree forest project is one of our water conservation programs.
In June we started digging the well and June 9 an engineer of irrigation visited the master unit and he will help us design and build our irrigation system. Architect Thi presented the MU master plan to Master Unit committee and to members of Ananda Marga who are interested in the project. One person is interested to build a Green hospital and we had a meeting with 15 people who are interested.
On June 19th we performed the Laying of the First Stone ceremony and started building the house. By the end of the month we finished the building. Shaunkara’s family (with his wife and 2 daughters) volunteered to start living there starting the first week of July.
On August 12 we had our house warming ceremony with 3 hours of Akhanda kiirtan (spiritual chanting). We enjoyed having Akhanda kiirtan in this natural setting.
At the end of September we invited Sarita, an Ayurvedic doctor from Thailand to give a workshop on natural treatments. The benefits from this project will go towards our Master Unit development fund. We have a fund-raising team of 5 women; Kalyanii, Hiranmayii, Jiivika, Kaomudii, and they are organizing these events.
The first step in preparing the land for agriculture and facilities is to establish our water conservation program. The Master Unit Water Conservation Program has two projects.
1. Irrigation System Project: We need around $30,000 for developing the pond for the irrigation system (Area for agriculture ponds:2,914 sqm., microbiology pond:1,513 sqm). We will develop the existing ponds, construct small & big-scale ponds, and construct a system of canals.
2. Afforestation: For our forest project we are looking for sponsors for neem trees, Sterculia foetida L, and fruit trees. People can donate a the tree or sponsor a tree for 50,000 VND (2$/tree) . We will plant around 1,500 trees on the big land and around 1,000 trees on the small land.
We welcome any suggestions and support and if you would like more information, please contact Tapan: