Thank you Spaaanderman

For the past five years, a 69-year-old woman from the Netherlands has quietly done what thousands of us have failed to: care for Dal Lake, not just as a scenic postcard, but as a living, breathing part of Kashmir's ecosystem.

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Ellis Hubertina Spaaanderman, who first visited the Valley 25 years ago, has returned not to relax but to clean. Day after day, she rows her modest boat across the Dal, collecting floating plastic bottles, wrappers, and other trash. She does this alone, without fanfare, and without expecting anything in return.