Here are a few facts about our life in Nepal:
-We are awoken each morning at 5am by the sound of cow bells and moos.
-The cardi's are out - it's actually quite chilly of a morn and in the evening. Marvellous.
-Jen spots Everest on a daily basis. Lynsey has to assure her it is not covered in trees.
-At least 20 momos a day are consumed between the 2 of us. And we're not trekking it off.
-Bedtime is at 9.30pm as the miniature doors of our Newari guesthouse are firmly locked. It's a jungle out there.
Hope that gives you an idea of the flow of things here in Patan, Nepal. But apart from shopping for woolly slippers and eating momos, we've been surprisingly busy, in a Nepalese kind of way, already!
Whilst acclimatising in a coffee shop(!) on Sunday, we read about an exhibition of the home-based workers network- SABAH. With 2 hours left of the show, we had to check it out! A quick look on the map revealed the location was in downtown Kathmandu... a good one and a half hour walk away (we timed that on the way back). So with none of the rickshaws we'd become accustomed to in India, we squashed into the local bus- think 16 seater minibus with 47 people. Trouble being, with not one English speaker on the bus, we literally had no idea where we were or where we were going. It was fun and needless to say we got there in the end. And what an interesting show it was. Bringing together textile producers from across South Asia who are isolated due to the nature of working from home, this upmarket event was all about networking, showcasing and highlighting the skills of the workers and also their plight (they are often exploited, having little business acumen and no-one to stick up for them). For us it was a great way to be thrown into the Nepalese craft tradition and we're off to visit the head office today!
Which brings us up to yesterday and a visit we've been particularly looking forward to. Has anyone heard of the online shop People Tree? Well if you haven't, look it up and go shopping and if you have you'll understand our excitement. We've been looking and coveting the products produced by Kumbeshwar Technical School for People Tree for ages and yesterday we got the chance to go and see this fantastic social enterprise in action. Literally round the corner from our guest house, sits this expanding venture which at present includes a primary school, vocational training in carpet weaving, carpentry and knitting, production unit and show room. And that's just the icing on the cake. After meeting the director, Kiran Khadgi, who so kindly gave up his time in what is a very packed schedule, we were shown around part of the production unit and got to see spinning, dying, weaving and knitting undertaken by graduates of the school. (a staggering 90% of the graduates find work in their field). Unlike the high-tech factory we saw in Bangalore, this all took place in 2 lovely 3-storey balconied buildings overlooking the 'hills', down a cobbled lane occupied by children and chickens. The dye baths were elevated giant tin pans on log fires and wet yarn was drying on rooftops. Amongst the chatter was the sound of hand spinning and tapping looms. And out of these headquarters, together with 800 supported home-workers, comes enough beautiful products to sell to fund the entire operation. We can't do justice to the amazing history of KTS and the expanse of their programme here, but what we can say is that we were mightily impressed and inspired by what has and is still being achieved. And we're very excited because we're meeting the lovely Kiran and his family once again for dinner on Thursday (which we're calling Boxing Day because it's the second day of the Tihar holiday) before he jets off to Malaysia for the World Fair Trade Conference. Can't wait!
PS. Lyns was extra excited when she walked into KTS as the first two hand-woven Tibetan wool rugs she saw were Liverpool AND Celtic ones. No Stoke City though. Sorry Jen.
-We are awoken each morning at 5am by the sound of cow bells and moos.
-The cardi's are out - it's actually quite chilly of a morn and in the evening. Marvellous.
-Jen spots Everest on a daily basis. Lynsey has to assure her it is not covered in trees.
-At least 20 momos a day are consumed between the 2 of us. And we're not trekking it off.
-Bedtime is at 9.30pm as the miniature doors of our Newari guesthouse are firmly locked. It's a jungle out there.
Hope that gives you an idea of the flow of things here in Patan, Nepal. But apart from shopping for woolly slippers and eating momos, we've been surprisingly busy, in a Nepalese kind of way, already!
Whilst acclimatising in a coffee shop(!) on Sunday, we read about an exhibition of the home-based workers network- SABAH. With 2 hours left of the show, we had to check it out! A quick look on the map revealed the location was in downtown Kathmandu... a good one and a half hour walk away (we timed that on the way back). So with none of the rickshaws we'd become accustomed to in India, we squashed into the local bus- think 16 seater minibus with 47 people. Trouble being, with not one English speaker on the bus, we literally had no idea where we were or where we were going. It was fun and needless to say we got there in the end. And what an interesting show it was. Bringing together textile producers from across South Asia who are isolated due to the nature of working from home, this upmarket event was all about networking, showcasing and highlighting the skills of the workers and also their plight (they are often exploited, having little business acumen and no-one to stick up for them). For us it was a great way to be thrown into the Nepalese craft tradition and we're off to visit the head office today!
Which brings us up to yesterday and a visit we've been particularly looking forward to. Has anyone heard of the online shop People Tree? Well if you haven't, look it up and go shopping and if you have you'll understand our excitement. We've been looking and coveting the products produced by Kumbeshwar Technical School for People Tree for ages and yesterday we got the chance to go and see this fantastic social enterprise in action. Literally round the corner from our guest house, sits this expanding venture which at present includes a primary school, vocational training in carpet weaving, carpentry and knitting, production unit and show room. And that's just the icing on the cake. After meeting the director, Kiran Khadgi, who so kindly gave up his time in what is a very packed schedule, we were shown around part of the production unit and got to see spinning, dying, weaving and knitting undertaken by graduates of the school. (a staggering 90% of the graduates find work in their field). Unlike the high-tech factory we saw in Bangalore, this all took place in 2 lovely 3-storey balconied buildings overlooking the 'hills', down a cobbled lane occupied by children and chickens. The dye baths were elevated giant tin pans on log fires and wet yarn was drying on rooftops. Amongst the chatter was the sound of hand spinning and tapping looms. And out of these headquarters, together with 800 supported home-workers, comes enough beautiful products to sell to fund the entire operation. We can't do justice to the amazing history of KTS and the expanse of their programme here, but what we can say is that we were mightily impressed and inspired by what has and is still being achieved. And we're very excited because we're meeting the lovely Kiran and his family once again for dinner on Thursday (which we're calling Boxing Day because it's the second day of the Tihar holiday) before he jets off to Malaysia for the World Fair Trade Conference. Can't wait!
PS. Lyns was extra excited when she walked into KTS as the first two hand-woven Tibetan wool rugs she saw were Liverpool AND Celtic ones. No Stoke City though. Sorry Jen.
Wow! (Again.) I'm writing this in a hotel opposite Wells Cathedral and am just blown away by the whole way we are able to communicate these days...as evidenced not only by the way you're faithfully keeping us up to date with your adventures but by how what essentially were cottage industries have now come together to produce the world wide success you've seen at grass roots levels. Great stuff.
ReplyDeleteKeep safe, love to both xxx