Summer Shipment has arrived!

Even after 25 years it still amazes me every time a shipment arrives from Nepal! To think that these goods have come from such skilled artisan’s hands all the way around the world to our warehouse in Spokane! It’s a miracle!

So, our last shipment of the summer has arrived full of beautiful bags, the last of the summer clothing and a huge assortment of knit accessories, textiles, paper and more. It’s hard to believe it’s time to transition into fall once again but we are packing and stocking lots of beautiful knits to keep us all warm and cozy. August is a crazy month here at Ganesh Himal Trading because it’s the hottest month in Spokane and we’re pulling and packing wool knits! Thanks to so many people placing advance orders we should have a nice stock of extra knit accessories on hand throughout the fall for those who have not yet ordered or to restock your shelves when you sell out!

Adorable striped "Shelter Knit" scarf with pockets

Sarah is busy updating the catalog with pictures of the new items that we’ll have for the fall so be sure to check out the new items area of the catalog and order those things early! They tend to fly out.

Sterling silver buckets of happiness

Sterling silver buckets of happiness

We’ll be finished pulling all of the backorders soon and be giving you a call to see if you need to add anything on. In the meantime we are working as fast as we can to get these beautiful things in your stores. Hope sales are great and that you’re having a wonderful summer!



[[T_F]]Data Leak Prevention – Data Security Solutions – Information Theft Protection, Detection and Prevention Software Productstracefusion_signature=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[[T_F]]

Artisan Partner Spotlight: Ram Devi

As a young woman, Ram Devi had a strong desire to work to improve her family’s economic condition. Her father, struggling with a gambling addiction, mortgaged the family home and took out a loan to start a poultry farm. Unfortunately, whatever income generated from the farm he wagered away, resulting in shame and debt

Even with their hardships, Ram Devi’s family banished the concept of her finding a job, calling it “improper” for a woman to work outside of the home. Her financial straps tightened with the addition of her children, adding to her loans and debts.

Dismissing her family’s conservative restrictions, Ram Devi joined ACP in 1992. Initially, she made Christmas ornaments and stamped designs on pottery. After one year, ACP offered artisans training on the ceramic wheel. Ram Devi was selected and after the six month training period she mastered the skill – which, in Nepalese society, is deemed a “man’s work.”

Breaking social stereotypes was not on Ram Devi’s agenda when joining ACP, but since her beginnings, she has been financially independent and commands respect within her home and community. With the income she’s earned, she purchased her own potters wheel and started working from home in the morning and evenings to supplement her income. The death of her husband left her the sole financial bearer of her children and father-in-law, which she attends to with her earnings from ACP. Memories haunt her of her former life in poverty — not being able to visit her sick mother because she didn’t have the bus fair, sending her children to sleep hungry — but today, she is working hard to pay off her mortgage and climb out of debt. She is hopeful for her future and the future of her children.

Ganesh Himal Trading has carried the work of Ram Devi and other ceramics workers from ACP since 1984!



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Finding Fair Trade Products

A friend well versed in Fair Trade recently sent me this question and honestly I was not quite sure how to answer it!  So, I set out to find some answers from  some folks more knowledgeable than I! I felt like this was an important bit of information for storeowners and consumers to have access to so I’ll keep you posted on what I find out.

The question: My friends are trying to find out if there are larger chain stores that are more appropriate to use than say, WalMart :) Is there a website that can tell us about specific retailers that are attempting to practice ethics in their businesses?

I asked Renee Bower, ED at The Fair Trade Federation www.ftf.org , and this was her response. “Such a tough question, and unfortunately to my knowledge there is no easy way to get this information.  It is part of the reason why buying responsibly is so incredibly difficult.

The unfortunate fact is that the supply chain for most products is so long, and big stores are working with so many different brands, that it can be difficult to make broad judgments about a retailer’s sourcing practices.  My best recommendation is to research individual brands, because sourcing practices vary widely and some brands are more aware of social responsibility/ workers’ rights than others. Brands that are transparent will have a Code of Conduct listed on their website; good examples are Nike, Levi, and the Gap.  These Codes of Conduct should list what the brand expects from its suppliers in terms of workers rights, health and safety, etc.
Another method is to look at the membership lists of organizations that encourage responsible sourcing; examples are Business for Social Repsonsibility,  Fair Labor Association, and the Ethical Trading Initiative.  But, be aware that these organizations vary widely in the actual commitment that they ask for from members.  Some simply ask for philosophical commitment to social responsibility, while others require more “teeth.”
So, basically, it falls to the consumer to do lots of research.  I’m sorry I can’t help with an easier answer – if you do find such a website, please let me know!  Best, Renee
Jeff Goldman, ED at the Fair Trade Resource Network agreed with Renee and said  ”It does get very complicated very quickly, so there is no great way to choose. I agree with Renee’s comments. One of the best sites I know of for such comparisons is Green America’s Responsible Shopper http://www.greenamerica.org/programs/responsibleshopper/. [There] you can compare by industries, like Clothing, Department Stores, and Big Box Retailer.
I also contacted Dick Meyers at Traditions Fair Trade in Olympia. He’s been really involved in the  Sweatfree Communities movement so well see what he says! I know Sweatfree Communities does put out their Shop with a ConscienceConsumer Guide which could be a helpful resource in answering this question.
If any of you out there have more concise lists to share with us please do and we’ll pass it along. In the meantime if you can choose to make a purchase from a locally owned store that carries fair trade and local goods that’s the best place to start! The big box stores get enough business as it is. Keep your money local and fair trade first!



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Promote Peace Through Fair Trade

In Eli Bhatt’s article below she asks us to celebrate the life of Nelson Mandela and to recognize, as he did that “by serving others, we actually fulfil our own humanity”. Fair Trade is the perfect example of how we can, as Eli advocates, put peace into practice in our own lives. Fair Trade is what Eli Bhatt talks about in this article. It’s about “strengthening families, work-places and communities that give us strong foundations, on which equal societies are built” and so much more.

At Ganesh Himal Trading we have supported the Girl Child Education Fund at the Association for Craft Producers for many years. Our goal has been to empower the women producers we work with to keep their girl children in school. We believe that educated girls are fundamental to creating strong, sustainable communities. We work hard every day to bring you beautiful, functional, affordable fair trade products that bring strength and empowerment to those who produce them as well as to bring you the opportunity to practice peace through your purchases.  Enjoy the article below and Happy Mandala Day!

Girl Child Education Fund recipient

PEACE BY PRACTICE: Mandela Day 2011

By Eli Bhatt, July 15, 2011 www.theelders.org

To me, Nelson Mandela is a supreme symbol of freedom’s struggle. Next week, on 18 July, he will celebrate his 93rd birthday, a day that around the world people now recognise as ‘Mandela Day’.

Let us take this opportunity to reflect on the life of a man we have come to know and respect as a great leader, one who sacrificed his own freedom for the freedom of his people. How best do we honour his achievements? What can we do to live up to Madiba’s example?

Looking for a solution

It is often said that the problems facing our world are too overwhelming or intractable – that you find endless conflict, injustice and poverty.

I agree that if you want to fix the world’s problems, you have a mighty task. In my own country, India, the scale of the poverty we see is enough to break your heart. After decades of independence, freedom has still not come to every citizen – discrimination has taken new forms, and the poorest of the poor live on the margins, the invisible engine of our so-called ‘Tiger economy’.

When we see such suffering, it is natural to wish to solve everything at once. We turn to our governments for a solution, and feel frustrated when they fail to act. But I have never been one to argue that governments have all the answers.

Change is up to us

Our greatest source of strength is right under our noses; the families, work-places and communities that give us strong foundations, on which equal societies are built.

Thinking local, we can turn power upside down. In my work with Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), I have seen some of the poorest, most vulnerable women transform their lives and the communities they live in. From being home-based workers, landless labourers or illiterate food vendors they have claimed their rights and have become the owners of their own resources, the beneficiaries of their own land. They meet resistance from the authorities at every stage but they stand firm, together, saying “We are poor, but so many!”

I believe strongly that to bring widespread change, we must first make that change ourselves. Another great teacher, Mahatma Gandhi, imagined this as ripples in water, small circles of change that grow ever wider. Our actions have an impact we may never even see.

Peace by practice

Rather than find yourself immobilised by the scale of the world’s problems, look around you. Even when a problem is right under your nose, it is easy to ignore it – we curse fate, blame tradition or say “it’s God’s will.”

But you will not have to search far before you find people who are hungry, lonely, downtrodden, persecuted – sometimes we just need a reason to reach out to them.

When Nelson Mandela founded The Elders, he invoked the idea of ubuntu: that we are human only through the humanity of others. What he describes is more than charity, it is a certain outlook or way of life. By serving others, we actually fulfil our own humanity – these actions are full of faith, a form of prayer.

This Mandela Day – a day for personal, local action – let us spend our energies serving our own communities to honour the 67 years Nelson Mandela dedicated to fighting for a better world.



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Recycled Silk Placemats & Runners from Nepal!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People LOVE our recycled silk placemats and runners. Made out of recyled silk saris in Nepal, these textiles are beautiful AND sustainable. Learn more about how they are made here:

 



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Help Ganesh Himal Trading Build a Weaving Workshop in Nepal!

Ganesh Himal has agreed to raise $2500 help rebuild ACP’s Bhagwati groups weaving workshop. We will donate $1250 and we invite you to help us raise the additional $1250. 100% of your donation will go to the building fund. Ganesh Himal has worked with this group since 1986.

Bhagwati Shrestha is a weaver for the Association of Craft Producers (ACP), a Fair Trade group in Kathmandu, Nepal. Like many girls in Nepal, Bhagwati was forced to leave school at a young age to help support her family. Fortunately she was able to get work with ACP, a women’s craft center established to provide low income & abandoned women with employment and training in traditional skills like weaving.

Bhagwati has worked hard at ACP and been elected by her co-workers to lead their weaving group. Through ACP she has learned the management skills necessary to effectively represent this group. She has risen to the challenge and since her promotion her weaving group has almost doubled in size. Now Bhagwati and the women in her group are earning a good living through ACP and have she has been able to finish school and begin college while also being the sole provider for her family.

In Bhagwati’s group the women chose to create their own communal workshop near their homes so they could easily work in their spare time, near their children. Their association with Fair Trade has allowed them to earn much needed income while gaining respect and power with in their families. They have also learned the value of their work which gives them much greater power in the marketplace.

Their current workshop is badly in need of upgrading! They don’t have the funds to rebuild it and so have asked us for our help. Please help us reach our goal! You can make a donation by logging onto our website and going to “Women’s Projects” in our store or you can simply send us a check with Bhagwati fund in the memo line. After you make your donation we would love for you to send us a picture of your store so that we can make a collage of all of the different people who have help out with this project!

*This could be a fun store project! Get creative or just paste the following message onto a jar and collect donations. Donate a percent of the items that Bhagwati’s group makes or even raffle off some of their items! Have fun with it and know that every penny raised will go to raising a new roof for them!* Poster

Bhagwati’s group makes all of our recycled silk placemats and runners, blockprint placemats and runners, rag rugs and block print floor mats.



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Fair Trade-”a counter movement to greed and waste and dominance”

“…what we both want to happen—a counter movement to greed and waste and the dominance of corporations—is already happening. It is happening simply because a lot of people have seen things needing to be done and are doing them. They are at work without grants, without official instruction or permission, and mostly unnoticed by the politicians and the news industry. Eventually this movement will have political powers which will be in some ways regrettable. I hope it will have the sense and strength to remain locally oriented, and to resist the simplification and corruption that will come with power”

-Wendell Berry in YES magazine http://www.yesmagazine.org Summer 2011 Issue A Quieter Life Now

Today I just want to acknowledge all of the great local work so many Fair Traders are doing. It is indeed such powerful work and it is as Wendell Berry so beautifully writes,so often “without grants, without official instruction or permission, and mostly unnoticed by the politicians and the news industry” yet the movement is growing and educating and evolving. Everyday we at Ganesh Himal Trading remind ourselves of what an amazing network of people this is. We are grateful that there is such amazing diversity, so many innovative ideas and so many young people engaged. We constantly strive to stay true to the principles of Fair Trade and to stay committed to the small, local change-makers whether they be in Nepal or here in North America. Thanks to all of you for joining us on this journey of hope and change.



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The Elders tackle the issue of child marriage

If you aren’t aware of what these wonderful Elders are doing please visit their website www.theelders.org. They have a mission to reach out to those who most need our help and to give a voice to the voiceless.  Recently they have been tackling the issue of child marriage. Here is what they have to say:
“Millions of girls who are forced into early marriage are among the most silent, invisible members of our society. They are barely treated as citizens, with no space to speak on their own behalf; they have no choice about school or marriage, no choice about if or when they want children.
The consequences of child marriage are multifaceted. Young brides are often pressured to prove their fertility before they are physically ready and this presents real danger: the leading cause of death in developing countries for girls aged 15-19 years old is childbirth. Girls who marry before they turn 18 are also at greater risk of violence and are more likely to contract HIV/AIDS than their unmarried counterparts. Very few child brides continue their education.
This month in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, we brought together 70 people from around the world who are striving to give these girls a voice; courageous women and men working tirelessly to create alternatives for girls to avoid early marriage by organising discussion and debate within their communities.
In the Amhara region of northern Ethiopia the most common age of marriage for girls is 12 – yet attitudes are changing. At the Berhane Hewan project, girls are encouraged to stay in school, know their rights and delay getting married.
By building an international Alliance to end child marriage, we hope to scale up these successes from communities and villages to the regional, national and global level.
Some say that it is not possible to change tradition. But tradition is man-made. Yes, we must be respectful, but we must also have the courage to acknowledge when traditions cause harm. When we give girls a voice, when we recognise their value, we enable them to fulfil their potential and fully contribute to their families and communities.”

Ganesh Himal Trading has donated to the Girl Child Education fund at the Association for Craft Producers since the 1990′s. This scholarship program helps the women producers we work with keep their girl children in school. As with The Elders we believe in empowering young women through education and providing meaningful work and economic advancement.  We have seen through our Fair Trade work with women in Nepal that when they are given this chance they become  leaders in their communities and create societies that no longer condone the subjugation of young women.

Please visit The Elders website www.theelders.org for more information on their great work on behalf of all humanity.



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Learn more about our Fair Trade Recycled Silk from Nepal!

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Nepal Health Clinic

 

Grand opening day Feb 2010

In 2007 Ganesh Himal Trading owners and their  friend Sita Gurung embarked on creating a small primary health care clinic in the rural Nepali village of Baseri near Ganesh Himal. With great help from the villagers and many US donors, the clinic was opened with a local medic in February of 2010. Now one year later over 3000 people have been treated for gastrointestinal problems, burns, broken bones, pregnancy issues and more. For the a more complete story see our First Giving Page for the clinic.

The Fabric of Life Foundation is the clinic’s fiscal sponsor.  In early April Sita and Denise met with Carol Schillios, the founder of FOL, to evaluate the progress of the clinic. We are all thrilled that the clinic has been such a huge success and is serving so many who never had local health care before. We look forward to many years of local health care in the future and the possibility of transferring this village inspired model to other local communities!



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