The City Gardener

My friend Rashil and his wife Kiwako have a lovely airbnb-type place in the town of Banepa, on the slopes outside the Kathmandu Valley. 

Rashil is chill af, but he shares the same deep sense of civic-mindedness I've felt in all my other Nepali friends. 

How so? Rashil takes me on a walk through the town - to my eyes quite similar to many others with the smattering of tea shops and dust, lots of it, kicked up by a constant movement of vehicles and people. But, as he points out, there are trees everywhere, lining most of the main and smaller streets, and even on pedestrian paths leading up the slopes and hills. 

With no help from the government, Rashil raised money and planted his own trees - over 2100 of them in the last 7 years. It's a healthy variety with jacarandas, calastimoms, campors, silver oaks to guava and mulberry.

The older trees stand about 6 feet tall and have healthy trunks - but the younger ones are still at risk from careless feet or the occasional anti-tree cynic. 

His pièce de résistance is a small area behind the local temple (in picture) - that has been transformed into a pristine green park with benches, pull-up bars, and platforms for trees - all done on his design and fund raising. But we conclude the walk around the back of the temple (which was clean) to the river (which was horrifyingly filthy). "There's still a lot to be done."

Check out Banepa Stay if you're ever in Kathmandu - I couldn't think of a better place and people to spend a few days with.