Every day we do quite a bit of work, but everything just takes so much longer! We got a cell phone over a week ago because we thought it would help us get in touch with Rita, Ratna and other individuals that we want to meet up with. What a joke! Just trying to figure out what numbers to push before the actual phone number begins was a challenge. Every time we tried to make a call the network was busy and the phone wouldn't ring. I asked Ratna about it, his reply was the network! This continued for two days then Stacey said, oh, you have to dial a 0 first when calling a mobile phone. Thanks to Martha Denny and the Office of International Programs for making us conduct a logistical review, without it we would still be making invalid phone calls. Even with the 0, it is practically impossible to call from mobile to mobile, the network is always busy. Now we know why people play around so much with their phones, its because they can't make a call with it so they might as well use it for something else, like music. For example, the couple sitting at the table behind us yesterday started playing techno in the middle of the restaurant.
We have been very lucky with the power cuts, always somewhere that has a generator or outside and unaffected. Last night the power went out,so dinner was by candle light and so was the rest of the night. Luckily it was cool enough from the rain so we didn't need the fans.
We live on the third floor of the house and I have had no complaints, until last night. The landlord decided to use a generator that is conveniently located right outside our front door. It is horribly loud and the room was practically vibrating along with it. Now, this wouldn't have been so bad if we could get light or hot water for it, but that is not the case. Instead, we had candle lit cold showers to the vibrating of the generator! I am used to the cold showers now, usually they feel quite refreshing, but last night it seemed extra cold probably because of the weather.
For about the last week the trash has been piling up on the streets. It is pretty disturbing to see the volume of trash that is created each day. The village where the landfills are wants money for two of its schools. They are blocking the garbage trucks from dumping, which means the trucks can't pick any more up. I haven't been able to find any news about this in the Kathmandu Post, but some kind of deal was made because the piles are slowly disappearing, taking with them the horrid odor of rotting everything.
We are also experiencing the start of the monsoon. It has been raining for the last 24hours, which is probably nothing compared what we will experience and some of the pictures I have seen. We went out yesterday for some site seeing and when it started to rain the streets cleared, making it much easier to get to where we were going. I initially thought the rain would clear the streets of mud and grime, but really it makes it worse. Ah the things you learn.
Despite all the situations I have written about, life for us is great here. The people are wonderful, the food is great and we have our health. It just helps remind me how much I take for granted. We have a lot to be thankful for and are both, again, very happy to be here.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Learning, Working and Living
I have really learned a lot since leaving DIA only three weeks ago. Our time in India seems like forever ago, yet it was less than two weeks when we left. Nepal is a great, not as hot or slow as India: overall, life and health are good.
I guess you could say we are in the data collection stage of our work. We have been spending more time at Dhaka Weaves, talking with Ratna, the bookkeeper and watching the weavers. It is unfortunate that we don’t speak Nepali, but we do plan to get a translator so we can communicate and interview with the weavers.
Dhaka Weaves hired Ratna when he was a teen to be the floor sweeper; he has been there ever since. After getting high marks in school, he went on to be the accountant at Dhaka Weaves. Now, with Rita and Pritiva both busy with other things, he is the man in charge. It is wonderful watching his eyes light up when he talks about the organization.
We have also been walking around town identifying Dhaka Weaves competitors and potential partners; there sure are lots of weavers out here! The problem is that the price of Dhaka Weaves products is higher than the other products on the market. The quality is much better, but I am afraid that it doesn’t much matter here. Yesterday we spoke with Sunil Chitrakar, the Executive Director of Mahaguthi, a fair trade craft store, and he mentioned that the development agencies kind of messed with the market. They created a training workshop to train people to weave and took this workshop across the country, teaching weaving skills to those who normally or historically wouldn’t weave. Each tribe has a trade, or a craft skill, some are painters, some weavers and some leather workers, etc. Now there are too many weavers and not a very big market. This forces people to ‘dump’ their woven goods into the black market and the price goes down dramatically, sometimes even lower than cost. This creates a nice challenge for us.
Sunil was the founding member of Fair Trade Group Nepal (FTGN). We spoke to him for a couple of hours about his enterprise, experiences and history. It was really fascinating and helped me understand how the fair trade movement started here and where it is headed. It might not be in the best interests of Dhaka Weaves to get certified at the time. Though they are definitely fair trade, the membership costs money and, more importantly, takes time. When an organization becomes a member of FTGN, they must pay for, set up and organize the trainings that are developed. This would take time, energy and money that Dhaka Weaves doesn’t have right now. We guess this means it is time to get creative with the tags and labels. If anyone has a suggestion we are open! Socially Responsible weaving anyone?
We got a phone the other day, but can’t seem to call anyone because the network is ALWAYS busy, go figure. We have been trying to get in touch with Rita for the last couple of days so we can move forward. We have a list of proposals and several ideas, but we need confirmation first. It will be interesting to see how we finally get a hold of her. We have called and stopped by her office several time, that woman is just too popular and sits on too many boards!! If we can’t call her today we decided that we will stop by her house this evening. Wish us luck…So things on the business side are moving forward. Everyday we learn more and more, soon we will start taking action.
The social aspects of life are also going well, our apartment is comfortable, close to the center of town and above the best bakery. One thing that I have learned is that if anything goes wrong in this country, they have a strike and close a road. It is very interesting and nothing seems to come out of it, but they have been doing it for years. There have been three that I know of since our arrival. One, a taxi driver was robbed and killed so most taxis and public buses had a strike the following day. Two, four people were killed in two days on the same part of a road so the friends and relatives of the deceased had a strike and blocked the road. Three, villagers where a landfill is located near Kathmandu want money for their schools, so they are having a strike, blocking the garbage trucks from entering. All said, life for us is not affected by these strikes, in fact we wouldn’t even know about them if we didn’t read the newspaper!
I guess you could say we are in the data collection stage of our work. We have been spending more time at Dhaka Weaves, talking with Ratna, the bookkeeper and watching the weavers. It is unfortunate that we don’t speak Nepali, but we do plan to get a translator so we can communicate and interview with the weavers.
Dhaka Weaves hired Ratna when he was a teen to be the floor sweeper; he has been there ever since. After getting high marks in school, he went on to be the accountant at Dhaka Weaves. Now, with Rita and Pritiva both busy with other things, he is the man in charge. It is wonderful watching his eyes light up when he talks about the organization.
We have also been walking around town identifying Dhaka Weaves competitors and potential partners; there sure are lots of weavers out here! The problem is that the price of Dhaka Weaves products is higher than the other products on the market. The quality is much better, but I am afraid that it doesn’t much matter here. Yesterday we spoke with Sunil Chitrakar, the Executive Director of Mahaguthi, a fair trade craft store, and he mentioned that the development agencies kind of messed with the market. They created a training workshop to train people to weave and took this workshop across the country, teaching weaving skills to those who normally or historically wouldn’t weave. Each tribe has a trade, or a craft skill, some are painters, some weavers and some leather workers, etc. Now there are too many weavers and not a very big market. This forces people to ‘dump’ their woven goods into the black market and the price goes down dramatically, sometimes even lower than cost. This creates a nice challenge for us.
Sunil was the founding member of Fair Trade Group Nepal (FTGN). We spoke to him for a couple of hours about his enterprise, experiences and history. It was really fascinating and helped me understand how the fair trade movement started here and where it is headed. It might not be in the best interests of Dhaka Weaves to get certified at the time. Though they are definitely fair trade, the membership costs money and, more importantly, takes time. When an organization becomes a member of FTGN, they must pay for, set up and organize the trainings that are developed. This would take time, energy and money that Dhaka Weaves doesn’t have right now. We guess this means it is time to get creative with the tags and labels. If anyone has a suggestion we are open! Socially Responsible weaving anyone?
We got a phone the other day, but can’t seem to call anyone because the network is ALWAYS busy, go figure. We have been trying to get in touch with Rita for the last couple of days so we can move forward. We have a list of proposals and several ideas, but we need confirmation first. It will be interesting to see how we finally get a hold of her. We have called and stopped by her office several time, that woman is just too popular and sits on too many boards!! If we can’t call her today we decided that we will stop by her house this evening. Wish us luck…So things on the business side are moving forward. Everyday we learn more and more, soon we will start taking action.
The social aspects of life are also going well, our apartment is comfortable, close to the center of town and above the best bakery. One thing that I have learned is that if anything goes wrong in this country, they have a strike and close a road. It is very interesting and nothing seems to come out of it, but they have been doing it for years. There have been three that I know of since our arrival. One, a taxi driver was robbed and killed so most taxis and public buses had a strike the following day. Two, four people were killed in two days on the same part of a road so the friends and relatives of the deceased had a strike and blocked the road. Three, villagers where a landfill is located near Kathmandu want money for their schools, so they are having a strike, blocking the garbage trucks from entering. All said, life for us is not affected by these strikes, in fact we wouldn’t even know about them if we didn’t read the newspaper!
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Walking to Dhaka Weaves
June 11, 2008
Today we thought we should try to walk out to Dhaka Weaves. We had just driven there on Monday with Prativa, Rita Thapa’s daughter, so we should be able to find it easily enough. Well, we took a wrong turn within our own neighborhood. We knew as long as we went downhill we would eventually find ourselves at a spot we could recognize. This did happen but it took us 2.5 hours to get to Dhaka Weaves. We needed to be on the ring road and then on the one “highway” that actually goes out of Kathmandu and all the way to India. It was a spectacular traffic jam. The road is barely two-lanes wide. Big trucks, buses of all sizes shapes and forms, personal cars, motorcycles, bicycles, cows and stray dogs compete for the lanes and shoulders. Add Stacey and Lindsay walking along and you get the picture! Nepal is dependent on trade with India for most items but absolutely dependent for fuels and many other basic commodities.
Our intention was to spend some time with Ratna, the bookkeeper (?). By the time we arrived, Ratna showed us to our office and then he told us he had to leave in 15 minutes. We had packed a sort of picnic, so we had a cup of tea and ate our lunch. We took the opportunity to walk through the building and take a few close-up pictures of the weavers working hands. Until you really see and understand the weaving process it may be difficult to appreciate the time, attention and true art of the craft. Without much else we could do we decided to walk back to town.
The return trip should be easier - we thought maybe 1.5 hours. Well, we found our way, no wrong turns but a few corners and turns that required a toss of a coin and we were home. It took us 2 hours. So perhaps it is further away than we realize. There is not a straight road in town and as they subtly curve you are never quite sure where you are or where you are going. That provides a nice opportunity for discovery. We will return tomorrow – of course we will walk. Why take the bus and spend even longer sitting in a logjam of traffic?
After arriving home we figured we should go try to find an Internet café. Well we did better. We found the Higher Ground coffee shop. They have wireless access. We will take our computers there tomorrow and see it the dream is a reality.
Thanks for keeping up with us. Thanks for your thoughts and support. This is a great city, a great opportunity and Lindsay and I are really glad to be here.
Today we thought we should try to walk out to Dhaka Weaves. We had just driven there on Monday with Prativa, Rita Thapa’s daughter, so we should be able to find it easily enough. Well, we took a wrong turn within our own neighborhood. We knew as long as we went downhill we would eventually find ourselves at a spot we could recognize. This did happen but it took us 2.5 hours to get to Dhaka Weaves. We needed to be on the ring road and then on the one “highway” that actually goes out of Kathmandu and all the way to India. It was a spectacular traffic jam. The road is barely two-lanes wide. Big trucks, buses of all sizes shapes and forms, personal cars, motorcycles, bicycles, cows and stray dogs compete for the lanes and shoulders. Add Stacey and Lindsay walking along and you get the picture! Nepal is dependent on trade with India for most items but absolutely dependent for fuels and many other basic commodities.
Our intention was to spend some time with Ratna, the bookkeeper (?). By the time we arrived, Ratna showed us to our office and then he told us he had to leave in 15 minutes. We had packed a sort of picnic, so we had a cup of tea and ate our lunch. We took the opportunity to walk through the building and take a few close-up pictures of the weavers working hands. Until you really see and understand the weaving process it may be difficult to appreciate the time, attention and true art of the craft. Without much else we could do we decided to walk back to town.
The return trip should be easier - we thought maybe 1.5 hours. Well, we found our way, no wrong turns but a few corners and turns that required a toss of a coin and we were home. It took us 2 hours. So perhaps it is further away than we realize. There is not a straight road in town and as they subtly curve you are never quite sure where you are or where you are going. That provides a nice opportunity for discovery. We will return tomorrow – of course we will walk. Why take the bus and spend even longer sitting in a logjam of traffic?
After arriving home we figured we should go try to find an Internet café. Well we did better. We found the Higher Ground coffee shop. They have wireless access. We will take our computers there tomorrow and see it the dream is a reality.
Thanks for keeping up with us. Thanks for your thoughts and support. This is a great city, a great opportunity and Lindsay and I are really glad to be here.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Last Days In India June 7-10
Today is our last day in India and I must say, although it has been great here, I am ready to get out of the 110 Degree weather. The last couple of days in Bhuj were really nice and they went by quite quickly. We found Shrujan, AA Wazir and the silver stores!
When our hotel manager heard that we were interested in Shrujan and Kala Raksha, he recommended that we speak with one of his good friends, A. A. Wazir. If we would have know how much trouble this could possibly get us into, we might not have headed out on the journey. But, being unsure of who Mr. A. A. Wazir was and what information he might hold, we set off.
Mr. Wazir told us the area where we could find his house, although locating it was not an easy task considering there were five thousand other houses that could be found given the same directions. Fate, luck, or whatever you want to call it was on our side because not halfway through the mess of houses we saw a man who, I guess, saw us and this just happened to be Mr. Wazir’s son. He invited us in and we met the Wazirs, the collectors (and sellers) of museum quality textiles.
The house was full of old, antique textiles, Mr. Wazir and his sons were very knowledgeable about where each piece came from, who it was made by, and how long ago it was made, pretty amazing! First mentioning that some of the textiles were for sale and some were part of his collection, we started looking at textiles and listening to Mr. Wazir for a couple of hours. After several textiles were discussed and laid out for us to look at he told us that his son was going to start putting them away, but we could buy any that we liked. Of course we spent some money, so much that a walk to the ATM was necessary and an invitation for lunch the next day extended.
We went to lunch and saw some of the real treasures in his collection. Mr. Wazir’s collection is incredibly beautiful; I have never seen anything quite like it. I would recommend a visit to A. A. Wazir to anyone in the area of Bhuj and if you are really into embroidery a visit is a must.
We also made a trip out to Shrujan, coming unannounced I think we surprised the employees, but it was here I learned that if you sit around long enough you just might get what you want. We started by looking around the store, then Stacey explained who we were and asked if there was anyone we could speak with. There were two possibilities the Wholesale Sales Manager, who was in Mumbai and the Retail Sales Manager who would be back in an hour. So, we waited….The Retail Sales Manager got in and confirmed that it was the Wholesales Manager who we needed to speak with and that he was out of town, but still only a phone call away. Next thing we knew, Stacey was speaking with him on the phone, but he was in a meeting (?) and would call Stacey back in 15 minutes, so the waiting started again.
Now all this might have run a little smoother if we spoke a little Hindi, but we don’t so we were all confused and we waited. The call came in and it was decided that it would make more sense to send him our questions over email, but that he was happy to answer. What happened next was, in a sense, just what we were waiting for. Two business students doing an internship with Shrujan walked into the room. It was perfect, they were able to speak English, answer several of the questions we had, and give us a tour of the building. On our tour we met the founder of Shrujan who gave permission for us to see the library and the showpieces that were upstairs and out of the publics reach.
While talking with the students we learned that Shrujan does not have the business model that we thought, in fact it is a not-for-profit trust where the income generated is put back into the project. This does not make it any less amazing though; it still works with over 3000 women across 100 villages. Shrujan provides all the materials and the design and pays the women immediately on completion of each piece of embroidery. As much as possible, responsibility for production is delegated to village women called Entrepreneurs who have been trained in organizational and business skills. If the workload warrants, an Entrepreneur can delegate work to a sub-Entrepreneur. This structure ensures that at the village level, management is always evolving, with training and responsibility being passed on to younger women. It is a very interesting model, but more similar to Kala Raksha than I previously thought. We still have several questions that will hopefully be answered when we send the email to the Wholesale Sales Manager.
After visiting Mr. Wazir twice and Shrujan, we still had some time on our hands. Wondering around the streets and alleys of Bhuj we stayed entertained and kept on sweating. We got lost several times only to end up on a street we had never seen and then back at the vegetable market we knew. Everything was different depending on the time of day, so never to bore the tourist who is there at the wrong time of year.
The bus back to Ahmedabad left at 4pm, Thank God it was more pleasant than the first. The view was nice, the A/C stayed on and we got in around 11pm. We had called our hotel in advance so they would know we were coming. The trip back ran unusually smooth.
This morning we took our time to wake up and head out; we had no goal in mind, no itinerary planned. The clouds looked a little low and I was wearing white, so of course it rained, the first shower of this years monsoon.
When our hotel manager heard that we were interested in Shrujan and Kala Raksha, he recommended that we speak with one of his good friends, A. A. Wazir. If we would have know how much trouble this could possibly get us into, we might not have headed out on the journey. But, being unsure of who Mr. A. A. Wazir was and what information he might hold, we set off.
Mr. Wazir told us the area where we could find his house, although locating it was not an easy task considering there were five thousand other houses that could be found given the same directions. Fate, luck, or whatever you want to call it was on our side because not halfway through the mess of houses we saw a man who, I guess, saw us and this just happened to be Mr. Wazir’s son. He invited us in and we met the Wazirs, the collectors (and sellers) of museum quality textiles.
The house was full of old, antique textiles, Mr. Wazir and his sons were very knowledgeable about where each piece came from, who it was made by, and how long ago it was made, pretty amazing! First mentioning that some of the textiles were for sale and some were part of his collection, we started looking at textiles and listening to Mr. Wazir for a couple of hours. After several textiles were discussed and laid out for us to look at he told us that his son was going to start putting them away, but we could buy any that we liked. Of course we spent some money, so much that a walk to the ATM was necessary and an invitation for lunch the next day extended.
We went to lunch and saw some of the real treasures in his collection. Mr. Wazir’s collection is incredibly beautiful; I have never seen anything quite like it. I would recommend a visit to A. A. Wazir to anyone in the area of Bhuj and if you are really into embroidery a visit is a must.
We also made a trip out to Shrujan, coming unannounced I think we surprised the employees, but it was here I learned that if you sit around long enough you just might get what you want. We started by looking around the store, then Stacey explained who we were and asked if there was anyone we could speak with. There were two possibilities the Wholesale Sales Manager, who was in Mumbai and the Retail Sales Manager who would be back in an hour. So, we waited….The Retail Sales Manager got in and confirmed that it was the Wholesales Manager who we needed to speak with and that he was out of town, but still only a phone call away. Next thing we knew, Stacey was speaking with him on the phone, but he was in a meeting (?) and would call Stacey back in 15 minutes, so the waiting started again.
Now all this might have run a little smoother if we spoke a little Hindi, but we don’t so we were all confused and we waited. The call came in and it was decided that it would make more sense to send him our questions over email, but that he was happy to answer. What happened next was, in a sense, just what we were waiting for. Two business students doing an internship with Shrujan walked into the room. It was perfect, they were able to speak English, answer several of the questions we had, and give us a tour of the building. On our tour we met the founder of Shrujan who gave permission for us to see the library and the showpieces that were upstairs and out of the publics reach.
While talking with the students we learned that Shrujan does not have the business model that we thought, in fact it is a not-for-profit trust where the income generated is put back into the project. This does not make it any less amazing though; it still works with over 3000 women across 100 villages. Shrujan provides all the materials and the design and pays the women immediately on completion of each piece of embroidery. As much as possible, responsibility for production is delegated to village women called Entrepreneurs who have been trained in organizational and business skills. If the workload warrants, an Entrepreneur can delegate work to a sub-Entrepreneur. This structure ensures that at the village level, management is always evolving, with training and responsibility being passed on to younger women. It is a very interesting model, but more similar to Kala Raksha than I previously thought. We still have several questions that will hopefully be answered when we send the email to the Wholesale Sales Manager.
After visiting Mr. Wazir twice and Shrujan, we still had some time on our hands. Wondering around the streets and alleys of Bhuj we stayed entertained and kept on sweating. We got lost several times only to end up on a street we had never seen and then back at the vegetable market we knew. Everything was different depending on the time of day, so never to bore the tourist who is there at the wrong time of year.
The bus back to Ahmedabad left at 4pm, Thank God it was more pleasant than the first. The view was nice, the A/C stayed on and we got in around 11pm. We had called our hotel in advance so they would know we were coming. The trip back ran unusually smooth.
This morning we took our time to wake up and head out; we had no goal in mind, no itinerary planned. The clouds looked a little low and I was wearing white, so of course it rained, the first shower of this years monsoon.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Nepal- June 10, 2008
Hello Again,
I must first apologize that I haven't been able to post anything for awhile, we have been in transit and really busy with introductions in Nepal. It is really great though!
I used my laptop and wrote a summary of our last days in India, unfortunately I can't get any computer to read my flash drive, where it is saved. I will get it posted as soon as I figure out the problem. Sorry!
There is lots of good news now that we are in Kathmandu. We were met at the airport by two employees of Nagarik Aawaz, one of the organizations that Rita started after Dhaka Weaves. They brought us to the apartment and made sure that we had everything we needed, it was really nice. Stacey and I dropped our bags and walked into town. It is great, really fascinating architecture and people, it is really diverse.
Rita invited us over for dinner and it was wonderful to get to meet her, she is such a neat lady. We talked about Dhaka Weaves and her perspective of the history, lots of gaps were filled and we got the chance to get a lot of our questions answered. Everything just fell into place for us. The following day, our second day here, we met with Rita's Daughter, Pritiva, and went to Dhaka Weaves. It lays just outside of Kathmandu in a rural area that is quickly becoming developed. We spent the day in two meetings with Pritiva, learning about one of the buyers and the weavers. It was really interesting and I look forward to going back and learning more.
Ratna is the man in charge over at Dhaka Weaves and we plan to go tomorrow to speak with him about the records and the plan, it should be good.
Today we spent learning about the other organizations that Rita started, Tewa and Nagarik Aawaz. It was nice to see and learn about how the three organizations are connected to each other. We still have a lot to learn, but there are plenty of opportunities for us to help.
The plan is to learn more and then make a plan. We will spend the next couple of days doing further analysis and then make some proposals to Rita. Once we agree on exactly what we are going to do, we will get started. I am really looking forward to all of this. Dhaka Weaves has proved to be a perfect match for our program and a great opportunity for Stacey and me!
I must first apologize that I haven't been able to post anything for awhile, we have been in transit and really busy with introductions in Nepal. It is really great though!
I used my laptop and wrote a summary of our last days in India, unfortunately I can't get any computer to read my flash drive, where it is saved. I will get it posted as soon as I figure out the problem. Sorry!
There is lots of good news now that we are in Kathmandu. We were met at the airport by two employees of Nagarik Aawaz, one of the organizations that Rita started after Dhaka Weaves. They brought us to the apartment and made sure that we had everything we needed, it was really nice. Stacey and I dropped our bags and walked into town. It is great, really fascinating architecture and people, it is really diverse.
Rita invited us over for dinner and it was wonderful to get to meet her, she is such a neat lady. We talked about Dhaka Weaves and her perspective of the history, lots of gaps were filled and we got the chance to get a lot of our questions answered. Everything just fell into place for us. The following day, our second day here, we met with Rita's Daughter, Pritiva, and went to Dhaka Weaves. It lays just outside of Kathmandu in a rural area that is quickly becoming developed. We spent the day in two meetings with Pritiva, learning about one of the buyers and the weavers. It was really interesting and I look forward to going back and learning more.
Ratna is the man in charge over at Dhaka Weaves and we plan to go tomorrow to speak with him about the records and the plan, it should be good.
Today we spent learning about the other organizations that Rita started, Tewa and Nagarik Aawaz. It was nice to see and learn about how the three organizations are connected to each other. We still have a lot to learn, but there are plenty of opportunities for us to help.
The plan is to learn more and then make a plan. We will spend the next couple of days doing further analysis and then make some proposals to Rita. Once we agree on exactly what we are going to do, we will get started. I am really looking forward to all of this. Dhaka Weaves has proved to be a perfect match for our program and a great opportunity for Stacey and me!
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Bhuj, May31-June4, 2008
Things here have been pretty amazing, hot, but still amazing. We have seen many interesting things and spoken to several interesting people. To put it simply, sensory overload. I will start from where Stacey last left off and fill you in.
We left you at Ahmedabad , 43 Celcius and the Calico Museum of Textiles, which was fascinating, despite the limited viewing time. Seeing some of the museums here in Bhuj really put things into perspective for me and I appreciate the dedication to the textiles and keeping the museum intact even more.
The journey to Bhuj started with a 7hour bus ride, leaving at 11:15 pm. Right. We were thinking, what the hell are we going to do until 11:00 and how are we going to stay awake? Our trusty autoriksha driver, Manu, told us not to worry, he would get us to the right bus at the right time, both crucial aspects when traveling. He picked us up at 9:30. Now, I am not sure if he thought we left at 10:15, or if he had something else to do, no matter, we were an hour early. So, we stood in the stifling heat, watched the show going on around us and waited until 10:30 when we could check into our Luxury private bus. 10:30 rolled around and we checked into the bus, received the bus number and were told to cross the street to the platform, where the bus would pull up at 11:00pm. Luckily there was a somewhat clean although the bus was luxury, there was no toilet! Those of you who know me well know what I was thinking!!!
Boarding the bus wasn’t so bad, sitting down for the first time wasn’t so bad and falling asleep for the first time wasn’t so bad, it was the rest of the ride that was horrible! Not to sound like a snob, but I really can’t imagine what the public bus ride would have been like. I am not sure if this is because it was a night bus and I was, at least expecting to sleep a little or if I would have felt the same if the journey happened during the day, either way the ride was bad: hot because the A/C was turned off after we stared moving, uncomfortable because the seats were hard and the person in front of you was lying back, bumpy because the roads are in horrible condition, and of course loud because there were babies screaming and people talking. , ect.. The great news, we made it!
Bhuj is a little bigger than either of us expected it to be, which turned out to be a good thing because we have plenty of time to walk around and observe. It is a huge center for handicrafts and we have learned quite a bit of information from our conversations with the locals. Social enterprises exist here for many reasons and take many different forms. Three of which we have spent time learning about: Kala Raksha, the rural development model, KMVS, the cooperative model, and Shurjan the business model. As of now we have not met with Shurjan because we haven’t been able to locate it, but finding it is our goal for today.
Kala Raksha has a very interesting model. They called it the social rural development model and emphasized that it was NOT a business. Kala Raksha’s mission is to keep the handicraft tradition and culture alive while supporting artisans, they want to encourage artisans to continue doing their craft work. I could talk for hours about it, but won’t bore you with all the details. The most significant aspect of Kala Raksha, from my point of view, is the design school, which Stacey and I were lucky enough to sit in on. They conduct classes for both men and women and it is a year long process. There are six courses and there is no cost other than getting yourself to and from the school. Each course covers different aspects about textiles, design and market demand. After the six courses the graduates continue to be mentors in an alumni program. Kala Raksha helps to provide a platform where men can connect to resources to help sell their products while it is the direct resource for the women. There are village committees that decide the price of the textiles considering the materials and the time put into making them. At the office there is a library of old textiles, a health and education center and a retail store. Kala Raksha really is something special.
KMVS runs on the cooperative model, their aim is to give more fair wages to the artisans. Their quality is very nice and the design and color beautiful. This group has been really responsive to market demands and they have a shop set up in the hotel across the street from us. We have spoken to the employee over there to get his opinion on matters. We are still in search of Shurjan, but hopefully will have some news on that enterprise soon.
Yesterday we went to a palace, a little beach town and a Jain Temple, absolutely incredible. The temple was made of white marble and immaculately engraved, construction started in 1984 and will be complete in 5 more years, can you imagine!
Today we are off to find the post office and be, once again, overwhelmed with the sites, smells and sounds of Bhuj. Take care and we will be in touch soon!
We left you at Ahmedabad , 43 Celcius and the Calico Museum of Textiles, which was fascinating, despite the limited viewing time. Seeing some of the museums here in Bhuj really put things into perspective for me and I appreciate the dedication to the textiles and keeping the museum intact even more.
The journey to Bhuj started with a 7hour bus ride, leaving at 11:15 pm. Right. We were thinking, what the hell are we going to do until 11:00 and how are we going to stay awake? Our trusty autoriksha driver, Manu, told us not to worry, he would get us to the right bus at the right time, both crucial aspects when traveling. He picked us up at 9:30. Now, I am not sure if he thought we left at 10:15, or if he had something else to do, no matter, we were an hour early. So, we stood in the stifling heat, watched the show going on around us and waited until 10:30 when we could check into our Luxury private bus. 10:30 rolled around and we checked into the bus, received the bus number and were told to cross the street to the platform, where the bus would pull up at 11:00pm. Luckily there was a somewhat clean although the bus was luxury, there was no toilet! Those of you who know me well know what I was thinking!!!
Boarding the bus wasn’t so bad, sitting down for the first time wasn’t so bad and falling asleep for the first time wasn’t so bad, it was the rest of the ride that was horrible! Not to sound like a snob, but I really can’t imagine what the public bus ride would have been like. I am not sure if this is because it was a night bus and I was, at least expecting to sleep a little or if I would have felt the same if the journey happened during the day, either way the ride was bad: hot because the A/C was turned off after we stared moving, uncomfortable because the seats were hard and the person in front of you was lying back, bumpy because the roads are in horrible condition, and of course loud because there were babies screaming and people talking. , ect.. The great news, we made it!
Bhuj is a little bigger than either of us expected it to be, which turned out to be a good thing because we have plenty of time to walk around and observe. It is a huge center for handicrafts and we have learned quite a bit of information from our conversations with the locals. Social enterprises exist here for many reasons and take many different forms. Three of which we have spent time learning about: Kala Raksha, the rural development model, KMVS, the cooperative model, and Shurjan the business model. As of now we have not met with Shurjan because we haven’t been able to locate it, but finding it is our goal for today.
Kala Raksha has a very interesting model. They called it the social rural development model and emphasized that it was NOT a business. Kala Raksha’s mission is to keep the handicraft tradition and culture alive while supporting artisans, they want to encourage artisans to continue doing their craft work. I could talk for hours about it, but won’t bore you with all the details. The most significant aspect of Kala Raksha, from my point of view, is the design school, which Stacey and I were lucky enough to sit in on. They conduct classes for both men and women and it is a year long process. There are six courses and there is no cost other than getting yourself to and from the school. Each course covers different aspects about textiles, design and market demand. After the six courses the graduates continue to be mentors in an alumni program. Kala Raksha helps to provide a platform where men can connect to resources to help sell their products while it is the direct resource for the women. There are village committees that decide the price of the textiles considering the materials and the time put into making them. At the office there is a library of old textiles, a health and education center and a retail store. Kala Raksha really is something special.
KMVS runs on the cooperative model, their aim is to give more fair wages to the artisans. Their quality is very nice and the design and color beautiful. This group has been really responsive to market demands and they have a shop set up in the hotel across the street from us. We have spoken to the employee over there to get his opinion on matters. We are still in search of Shurjan, but hopefully will have some news on that enterprise soon.
Yesterday we went to a palace, a little beach town and a Jain Temple, absolutely incredible. The temple was made of white marble and immaculately engraved, construction started in 1984 and will be complete in 5 more years, can you imagine!
Today we are off to find the post office and be, once again, overwhelmed with the sites, smells and sounds of Bhuj. Take care and we will be in touch soon!
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