Our series ‘Letters during COVID-19 is an exchange of thoughts, a collection of digital letters exchanged among colleagues in lockdown and their thoughts about research and field work – from afar and within’. 

Kumari Thami was only 20 years old when she first came to live in Kathmandu. Originally belonging to Sundrawati of Dolakha district, Thami who is now 32 years old lives with her husband and two children. Today, she is the Vice President at the SaSaJa Cooperative – the only cooperative run entirely by and for the waste workers in Nepal – and a self-employed business owner who has setup her own shop in the empty shutter space in where she lived on rent.

Dr Pia Hollenbach’s field visit to Nepal in November 2019 to the Sisdole landfill site, Kirtipur Waste Management and Service Composting Unit and a Co-operative at Teku-12 formed by Informal Waste Workers.