Gul Bahao CEO briefs City Government officials on Chandi Ghar

A meeting presided by Special Assistant to Chief Minister Mr. Zia-ul-Islam was held at the Chief Minister Secretariat where Gul Bahao’s Nargis Latif was invited to brief Officials belonging to the City Government and the Sindh Secretariat. The agenda of the meeting was to discuss Gul Bahao’s innovation “Chandi Ghar”.

Nargis Latif said that Gul Bahao’s Chandi Ghar should not be devalued because of its low cost and neither should it be limited to a mere project of an NGO. On the contrary, Nargis claimed that it is a unique innovation –the first one of its kind in the world. Its good looks makes it exotic looking she said fit to be used by the Head of State. In a sharp rebuttal to one of the participant’s questions, Nargis explained that contrary to some misconceptions the Chandi Ghar is extremely hygienic and can be put to a variety of purposes like:

During Haj where temporary housing is required
For relief work in earthquakes, tsunami and other natural disasters and wars etc.
For military purposes, in war games or in real life battles
For oil riggings
Mining exploration
Tourist industries on the coast as well as in mountainous areas
Research work in inhospitable terrain
For law enforcing agencies such as guards 80 for mobile schools hospitals
Camps on prime land in big cities to be used temporarily. In other words wherever a structure is required immediately in a maters of hours and dismantled quickly they are the answer. Unlike other conventional prefabricated structures Nargis said these are insulated as well as fire resistant.

To a question from the participants about what Gul Bahao expects from the government Nargis replied that the government should immediately call an exhibition cum conference to discuss the importance of the Chandi Ghar its potential in business, export and linking business with research work, she said that stakeholders to be invited to this conference should be businessmen, exporters, builders, engineers architects, faculty and students of different universities and as well as the informal sector comprising junk dealers.

To the question why it has not caught on as yet, Nargis replied that is the case with all new innovations that they are always rejected in the beginning. Giving the example of the CNG gas she said six years ago, right from the rickshaw drivers, Suzuki owners, truck drivers, everybody said it would spoil the engines but after years of painstaking marketing things have changed, she said.

Summing up the meeting, Mr Zia-ul-Islam said that the government would give serious consideration to Gul Bahao’s proposals.

Chandi Ghar at Sujawal Bund

People travelling along the Sujawal Bund of Thatta during the Eid holidays were pleasantly surprised to see two glittering “Chandi Ghars” built overnight. This was part of an exercise to provide low cost prefab houses for the flood affectees a joint venture of two Karachi based NGO’s – Gul Bahao and Umeed. Gul Bahao has been claiming for years that the Chandi Ghar being prefabricated is ideal for disaster management and especially wherever ownership of land is not certain

The Chandi Ghar it may be recalled is a totally new concept using aluminum foil and panaflex materials along with bamboo sticks. Though the manufacture of the blocks requires the latest raw materials assembling them is extremely simple consisting of blocks and panels it was manufactured at the Gul Bahao complex in Gulshan-e-Iqbal and then transported to Shujawal

A seven member team of Gul Bahao erected the two houses 10×15 feet along with the male members of the flood affected housed in tents along the Sujawal Bund . They spent two days and nights right in the open till the putting up of the prefabs. This way much of the new technology was handed down to the villagers some of whom were acquainted with house building. The workers of Gul Bahao were however saddened to see that their hosts ate barely a single meal a day. On their part they tried not to be a burden on their hosts.

Addressing the villagers who had gathered to watch the spectacle, Nargis Latif, the managing trustee of Gul Bahao said that this new innovation is a source of hope for the teeming millions of Pakistan that not only can it provide housing for them but can also provide avenues for employment and income generation. Nargis declared that the innovation is unique, that we have beaten the Americans, the Chinese, Japanese and the rest of the world in this respect.

Gul Bahao’s Fuel Pack

In a press statement Gul Bahao has said that the “Fuel Pack” that it has made from waste material could help to solve the acute problem of electricity, the city is facing. According to Gul Bahao it is an environmentally friendly alternate fuel, a good substitute for oil; because it does not give out any toxic fumes, at the same time is cheap and easily available. It can be easily used as fuel for thermal power stations.

Giving the back ground of the “Fuel Pack” Gul Bahao has said that in 2006 it was collecting different kinds of industrial waste during the months of February to April from 80 factories of the EPZA by means of 8 trucks on daily basis and it has been conducting experiments on them ever since. Techniques used were those that have been developed by Gul Bahao for making its famous “Wastic Blocks”. The “Fuel Pack” is a block weighing ten to twelve kilo of size 6 inches by 17 inches by 21 inches. It consists of clean non toxic industrial waste like bits of wood, paper, cloth etc. which are not mixed up with putrefying waste. A protective covering of aluminum foil which is fire resistant is put on the blocks which also give it an aesthetic look.

The blocks have been used as fuel in different places which gave extremely good results. One well known industrial company even volunteered to market it. Considering the grave power situation, Gul Bahao has asked the Government to consider its “Fuel Pack” as fuel for thermal power stations. The advantage of this alternative fuel is its easy availability as well as its low cost.

Here it may be mentioned that Gul Bahao has been experimenting with waste material for the last thirteen years and so far has spent 4 crore of rupees. It has had as many as 80 people working in a single day. It has also succeeded in establishing Pakistan’s first Research Center for waste management.

Relief camp for flood affectees located in Razzakabad

The last days of the holy month of Ramazan were spent in unique way by the Gul Bahao team. Away from their homes, they spent two nights and days in the Relief camp for flood affectees located in Razzakabad (presently housing seven thousand refugees) situated in the suburbs of Karachi. The purpose was to demonstrate the different techniques and skills developed by Gul Bahao for disaster management.

What is more, two prefabricated structures of size 15×30 were put up with the help of the camp inmates. One is meant to serve as conference room (as suggested by the administration) and the other to serve as waiting room for the patients of a mobile Hospital put up by the UAE government.

The representative of the UAE government in Pakistan Dr. Adil has offered to buy more prefabricated structures called Chandi Ghar from Gul Bahao. The putting up of the prefabricated structures was a good example of cooperation between the NGO and flood affectees. The first 15x 30 Chandi Ghar was built at a very prominent place in the camp. Many of the refugees chipped in with their labor, quickly learning the new techniques involved in putting up the structures The work was done throughout the night under the glare of the street lights. Till the time of Sehri. This was so because many were fasting and also to meet the deadline of Eid.

While hundreds of people crowded around to see the glittering “Chandi Ghar” others listened with interest to talks accompanied by photographs by Head of Gul Bahao, Nargis Latif. Using the language of the affectees of Sindh Nargis dwelt on the use of mobile toilets (as designed by Gul Bahao) on the need for recycling rural waste, water purification method called Paaki Pani and other innovations of the organization.

Solutions to environmental problems – lecture at Goethe institute

Yesterday, Gul Bahao’s Nargis Latif was invited to address a gathering of students at the Goethe Institute. The event was organized by the Children’s museum for Peace and Human Rights to high light the causes behind natural disasters especially in the current situation prevailing in the country.

Nargis Latif in her detailed speech said that Gul Bahao during its 16 years of existence has been giving solutions to seemingly intractable environmental problems. It has invariably linked the environment with economy. It has never indulged in breast beating about pollution levels about the destruction of the planet. It has always shown how we can have development and industry side by side with a clean environment. For instance dry recyclable waste may be collected in bins in such an organized manner that nothing remains to pollute and instead the industry and agriculture would gain through easy and cheap access to raw material.

She said that if we use paper bags instead of shopping bags we will be encouraging deforestation which will lead to large scale flooding. Nargis dwelt on a variety of topics ranging from factory effluents, to use of organic waste as fodder to the use of plastic waste in the use of building blocks (remember Chandi Ghar) is an innovation of Gul Bahao. She said that a sensible waste management system including recycling would go a long way in controlling desertification, deforestation and pollution of natural resources.

There was an intense interaction between the head of Gul Bahao and the participants of the seminar. Students wanted to know how they could help Gul Bahao. Citing the example of Al Noor School in Gul- shan e Iqbal, she said they asked their students to collect recyclable garbage from their friends, relations, neighbors on one particular day. After separation and weighing, it value was calculated at a little over nine thousand rupees. This was a donation from the school to the NGO (Gul Bahao). Nargis revealed that some other educational institutions including few universities have started donating their recyclable garbage to Gul Bahao. Referring to the devastation caused by the floods, Nargis suggested plan of action. According to her more than Rs 3 crore worth of waste is being thrown into the dumps of Karachi every day.

Even if a fraction of this is collected in an organized manner it could help in the relief and rehabilitation of the flood affectees. Nargis said that Gul Bahao during its 16 years of existence has gained ample expertise in this matter and has sold more than eight crores rupees worth of garbage so far.

In the meantime Nargis has appealed to all institutions banks, factories and others and even NGOs to use their recyclable waste for raising funds for the national calamity taking place in the country. Gul Bahao will send its transport and staff to collect the recyclable garbage.