Namaste! or Hello,
We are back from our adventure to Kathmandu and what an experience it was! Paul and I had the most wonderful time meeting the locals and immersing ourselves in the culture.
We had a local family showing us around. They organised hikes, visits to villages and leprosy hospitals to name a few, so we got to really experience Nepal.
Nepal or specifically Kathmandu is a place like no other. The sights, the sounds, the roads and traffic, the smells are all memories we will never forget. The poverty has changed our perspective on life and we realise how happy you can be with nothing to your name. The Nepalese are beautiful, happy, gentle people but of course not without great struggles to get through each day.
From a business point of view it was lovely to meet the people working for me and visit their workshops. I was very encouraged that each of the workshops I work with are family based and employing local women for a fair wage. We took Romilla, a local Nepalese lady, with us to ask the women how they were treated and if they enjoyed there work. Romilla was also very helpful in interpreting for us as the communication was difficult at times.
Most of the workshops are small tin sheds, some in buildings with many levels. Subash is one of the owners I work with and he has a small family. His sister manages the production and trains new ladies in felting techniques. Felting is very labour intensive and we videoed the whole process and will Youtube it soon. The women are very strong and very skilful felters. I learnt some great felting techniques along the way. There are about 10 women working for him but it depends on the orders that come. Sometimes if they are busy they outsource to local women who can complete it at home. I now feel a great responsibility to these businesses, to support them in every way I can.
I have lots of new designs coming.......so stay tuned.
Romilla and her husband Ashok, our local guides, became our friends and shared with us their many stories. They are passionate about helping the disadvantaged in their country. They already support many children and schools by paying for their education. Last month they bought 16 desks for a remote school. They are also involved in Leprosy International and Ashok is on the board. Romilla's dream is to set up a workshop employing disadvantaged or disabled women to make jewellery. She showed me some of her samples and I bought them all! I also ordered 50 bracelets from her. She cried as this was her first sale and I believe a sign of things to come for her.
My plan is to sell the bracelets for $12 and 100% of the profits will go back into educating marginalised children and girls on the Nepalese border. It costs $10 a month to educate a child in Nepal and we want to support as many families as we can. About 12,000 girls on the Indian border are sold as sex slaves. Ashok and Romilla believe if the girls receive an education and are valued they will be less likely to fall into the traps of traffickers.
If you would like to purchase a bracelet you can do so online here:
Or if you would like to find out more about sponsoring a child for $10 a month we can send you more information. You will receive a photo of your child and regular updates and letters.
We had such fun and fulfilled all the goals I set out to do in our Pozible project. With your generous help and support we really feel that Happy as Larry Designs can now move into the next phase of expanding the business.
Lots of love, Amy and Paul xx
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