German rower pitches for promotion of nature, veganism

Neha Saini

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 22

On her maiden visit to India, Jola Mahi, 21, a student and rowing instructor from Germany has been busy doing all the non-touristy things that she can. That includes touring several schools in the city and working with students to sensitise them to nature, churning some vegan banana smoothies for visitors at weekly farmer’s market and learning the advance Kundalini yoga practice.

“I want to engage deeply with the local community to understand how things work here and also to make people realise that going natural and organic is the way for future,” said Jola. A vegan and promoter of sustainable lifestyle, Jola has been in Amritsar for the past a half and one month but her focus has been on identifying the areas one can work upon to create a clean and healthy community. “When I see garbage dumped on the roadsides, I feel sad. Germany generates more garbage than India but most of the same is recycled and reused through waste management techniques. I hope that India too adopts such methods to treat its waste. It’s quite easy here as you have a lot of organic waste,” she says.

Visiting the weekly organic farmer’s market here on Earth Day, Jola educated people to veganism. “A lot of people have doubts over vegan food, especially in the heart of Punjab where dairy food is loved every bit. But I believe that vegan food that includes non-dairy products are quite nutritious and have better effects on body in longer run.”

Born in Hamburg and raised in a farm, Jola says she has been always close to the nature. A believer in green way of life, Jola says that she loves working with children as “They are the future and they have an open mind to understand and adopt a healthy lifestyle early on.”