Sometimes cause in need is a cause indeed. For my first Wellness post I figured I would start with Mother Earth. I have been in India now for almost 9 years staying in a village called Udvada, a village that I love for it’s fresh air (all relative to the rest of India) and the quaint small town life. We grew up visiting Udvada regularly as it the Mecca for Parsis. The village of Udvada hosts the holiest fire temple in the World, Iranshah-Saheb.
In order to not divert and make this a huge history lesson on religion, I’ll sum it up. I’m a Parsi, which is also known as a Zoroastrian, and our holy places are called Fire Temples (Atash Behrams). Our ancestors are from Persia and then migrated to India in order to maintain the religion and sanctity, where the fire was transported by boat along with the people. Got it? I’ll be putting more details about the village and it’s history and what it means to the Parsis up on the Swachh Udvada Ketto fund page.
I have seen this village change over the years, be it becoming better with technology and houses having wifi and courier delivery services to becoming worse with environmental issues by getting dirtier, more polluted, and the waterfront / beach disappearing with the expanding population, lack of education, and an overabundance of animals, cattle in particular.
For the past couple years, focusing on the cleanliness of the village has been a cause dear to my heart. Growing up, my family and I had always come to visit this little village of Udvada and cherish its quaint streets and quiet beauty. A team of Parsis have now come together to try and better the village and see that the footprint we leave behind is a better one for our children.
Our main goal is to help the village Recycle, Renew, and Regrow together.
We have setup a Swachh Udvada Ketto fund to put together funding for the following:
- Help the village Recycle, Renew and Regrow together
- Create a Trust to establish ourselves legally
- Have better infrastructure around the village to allow for better garbage disposal and recycling
- Beautification of the village in regards to trees, plants and garbage cleanup
- Education of the villagers to teach and show them how they can make a difference
Follow this link to join our Facebook group, Swachh Udvada Swachh Bharat and to also donate at our Ketto fund, Swachh Udvada. As we make headway on this project, I’ll be recording our progress here and on my Instagram page.
I would love to hear from each of you as to what you do to make a difference for others as well as our surroundings. If anyone is also looking to volunteer their services, we can always use more hands on deck!
xo, Zarine
2 Responses
Congratulations, so happy to read this post
Glad ,you have taken this first and initiative for this noble cause.
God bless you.
Thank you so much for the kind words. I hope that the difference we make can impact the lives of our neighbours and children so that they too can continue this change.