One day, Mahesh "Max" Moktan was strolling with some friends through their hillside town of Kalimpong, in northeastern India, when they decided to start an organization to better their community. Now Max is the Secretary of HOPE, the Himalayan Organization for People's Education. He talked to MOLI about how HOPE has cleaned up waste in Kamlimpong and welcomed visitors from around the world to help in the cause.

So who are the people that the Himalayan Organization for People's Education educates?

HOPE is run by young educated men and women between the ages of 20 to 35 years who are all very enthusiastic and energetic. HOPE educates people of all ages from a young child to an old man with regard to health, education, environment, human rights, and all social issues.

Tell us a little about how HOPE came about and how you got involved?

The idea of HOPE started during the spring of 2003, when I was strolling with a group of childhood friends on the streets of Kalimpong, our hometown, and thought of doing something productive voluntarily for the possible development of our town. We wanted to intermingle our dreams to move forward. We eventually set up an organization named HOPE.

As for me, I am a nature lover and like to help people whenever I can. I am very emotional when I see an animal that is wounded or sick or small children picking up trash to earn a living. I immediately think about helping however I can.

Tell us about HOPE's Wealth in Waste initiative. What inspired Wealth in Waste?

Irresponsible disposal of garbage by the local administration led to the start of Wealth in Waste. Our town is a hill station and has no dumping place, so the daily 20 metric tons of garbage collected by the municipality is dumped from a hillside, which ultimately pollutes the river flowing beneath.

One early morning in January 2005, some of my friends and I -- four boys and a girl -- were watching a municipality truck loading trash that was collected alongside the road. The trash consisted of all sorts of things like plastic, metal cans, paper, glass bottles, rotting vegetables, etc. Suddenly a question struck me: Where does the municipality throw this trash? What do they do with the tons of trash collected everyday?

To our worst surprise, we found that the municipality truck used to dispose the trash down the hill near the river. We immediately visited the dumping site and to our horror, we found the place to be a hell -- very smelly with huge loads of trash strewn all over the hill, down the hill, and down to the river. We were really worried about the situation and eventually set up Wealth in Waste, where we conduct house-to-house garbage collection and separate the recyclable waste to sell it in the recycling factories and generate some funds to sustain the project, thus reducing the burden of landfill.

By August 2005, WIW was running with full support from the local community, the Hotel Association, and the Municipality of Kalimpong town. The town mayor/chairman was very cooperative and provided us trucks and other necessary materials to take the recyclable waste to the factories.

Now WIW covers about 500 houses in the town and it’s expanding. The project director is Mr. Nawang Tenzing, a board member of HOPE, and there are two ward supervisors and 16 waste collectors and members of WIW presently.

The project is self-sustainable and the funds are generated from the selling of the recyclable wastes like plastics, metals, glass, and paper in the recycling factories located about 80 kilometers away from Kalimpong town.

Companies like Hindustan Coca Cola Ltd., North Bengal Plastic Federation, and Indian Plastic Federation have also been supporting our initiatives by providing collection bins, crushers, gloves, and uniforms for staff.

What signs of success have you seen?

The most important success is the awareness among the people regarding responsible disposal of their garbage. Self-help groups in small towns have effectively implemented the same concept.

Public participation in the solid waste management service and awareness play an important role and pose a significant challenge. Funding for the service until it becomes self-sustainable takes six months to a year depending upon the size of the area covered.

I notice that you're also a travel agent. How did you get into both careers?

It was through the need for organizing travel guides for foreign volunteers coming to work with HOPE. When volunteers started coming, there was a need for someone to look after their air tickets, some sightseeing, and travel packages during their free time since every volunteer used to run about in the town searching for travel agencies and Internet for their flight bookings and suitable sightseeing, trekking, rafting, or meditation.

So ultimately last year we set up Aspire Global Tourism development project, which works out the most reasonable travel packages and assistance for all volunteers and foreign tourists visiting India. The tourism project also earns some revenue for HOPE and provides some employment opportunities for young men and women. We are in a team, so I have been able to coordinate both careers very successfully.

HOPE takes volunteers from around the world. The website mentions a number of expenses involved in volunteering. What does a three-month stay generally cost a foreigner?

Actually the duration of stay for volunteers can be for a minimum of two weeks to a maximum of six months. The volunteers need to pay a minimum program fee of $330 per month, which includes accommodation, food, supervision, simple spoken native language training assistance, administrative charge, and savings for an upcoming HOPE project.

Apart from the program fee, the volunteers need to pay for their own flight tickets, visa costs, their own travel insurance, private expenses, etc.

What draws visitors to Aspire Global Travels?

The most important thing that draws visitors to Aspire Global Travels is an opportunity to take the pleasure of traveling while also participating in a good cause with HOPE such as planting trees, pr visiting an orphanage or a community school, etc. Anyone traveling through Aspire leaves with an everlasting impression of love and friendship and longs to visit again in future.

What is your biggest dream for what you can accomplish?

My biggest dream for HOPE is to make it a well-reputed Himalayan charitable youth organization and a ray of hope for all young people and communities all over the world seeking development and possible assistance.