You spoke, we listened! 
New Website Improvements, plus 300 new items
 
 May 2013
Quick Links
Ganesh Himal Trading is a  
WORLD FAIR TRADE DAY
Partner!


In honor of World Fair Trade Day:  
10% off ALL Paper Products for the month of May 
-and-
10% of all sales on May 10th will go to FTRN education.
 
Learn more about how to become a WFTD partner here.
Looking Forward
Advance Orders for Knits!

While in Nepal we visited Nepalgunj to meet with the producers of our Shelter Knits.  

 

These incredibly strong women who have been victims of trafficking, domestic violence, and civil war are working hard to keep their children in school, and feed their families.  

 

We have several new items from this group, and be sure to advance order our very popular Christmas stockings which were a 

top ten knit item for 2012! 

 

Orders are already pouring in for these so don't miss out!  Read more about this amazing group on our website

 

 ADVANCE KNIT ORDER DEADLINES: June 1st

 

Read more about Advance Orders here (must be logged into website first).

  

Power of 5 update

The Girls Say Thank you!

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We just wired our second installment to the Power of 5! While in Nepal we met with Meera and Ravita of ACP who were so incredibly grateful for your hard work! 

 

Stay updated and view fun photos of the girls via Facebook! Be sure to join the group here

 

Meet several of the girls on our

blog

 

HUGE thanks to our customers who have contributed!

  

 

 

Fair Trade Blog
On the road in Nepal
The Photograph We didn't Get
by Candi Smucker

 

In western Nepal is the town of Nepalgunj, it is located a couple of miles north of the border with India. This is were we flew on Thursday afternoon.

 

The flight from Kathmandu was in a 30 passenger prop plane of some sort (yes, I know, not enough info for some of you). We were in the air about an hour and had been told to sit on the right hand side of the plane if at all possible. When I boarded Denise was already seated and had saved me a window seat for which I am eternally grateful. The view of the Himalayans was worth the entire price of the ticket. The full hour was panorama  of one grand peak after another.

 

Nepalgunj is a smallish town (population still to be determined, no one seemed to know) that is flat, hot and humid  with the tiniest of airports about five miles out of town. If they have 8 flights a day I would be surprised. Kesang met us at the airport with a van, we loaded in with our overnight bags and off we sped to the hotel on the other side of Nepalgunj.

Kesang is a twenty-something Tibetan who has started Padhma Creations, a group of knitters affiliated with a shelter for abused or trafficked women. Kesang went to college in Minnesota and has now returned to Nepal to carry on her family tradition of assisting the women of Nepal gain higher economic independence. More on the family in a later report from an earlier day, these reports are going to be quite out-of-order.

 

The main road to the hotel is full, really full, of motorcycles, bicycles, horse-drawn platform taxis, little mini-mini passenger taxis, bicycle rickshaws, pedestrians, freight trucks coming in from India, goats, chickens, cows and children. Oh, and potholes.

We made it quite nicely to the hotel, checked-in, dumped our stuff and headed off across the street to the shelter home for a quick visit. It was dusk and as we sat and chatted with a few of the women (Kesang was super translator) the mosquitoes also came to greet us. Of course in an attempt to pack light for our overnight trip no one had insect repellent. The local pharmacy seemed to be out so the ladies at the shelter proceeded to light egg cartons to create smoke to keep them at bay. I am a mosquito magnet so that wasn't really necessary for the rest of the group but I appreciated it.

Then it was back across the street for a leisurely dinner at the hotel. Leisurely because it took an hour and a half for the food to arrive. I suspect they had to call the cook back in for this large crowd of North American women. Read the rest here.....

 

New website changes
+300 new products!
 
We recently gave our website a face-lift and incorporated the feedback that we got from customers like YOU into the make-over:
  • Faster loading time
  • Items will not be lost within a 24 hour period in your shopping cart (unless you log out or turn off your computer)
  • You can add products to your cart instantly without clicking into the item description
  • New links: Artisan, Blog & Power of 5 
  • View newest items by shipment date
  • Fully expanded category list for easy navigation

On top of that, we have been busy adding 300 new products we 
co-designed with our artisans in Nepal. See below for a peak at a few of these items, or click here to see the entire list on our website (must log into website first). 
Trip to Nepal
2013

 

What do you do when someone you respect so much asks a huge favor of you...

 

....When one of your 

Denise & Laxmi of ACP
mentors says they want you to lead them? Well, a few years ago, Candi Smucker of Baksheesh Fair Trade, asked me if I would take her to Nepal to meet with the artisans Ganesh Himal works with. Well, I said no! I'm not a tour leader, I'm just an on the ground hands on worker! Candi didn't believe me and persisted and because of the amazing work that she and Brian have done on behalf of Fair Trade, I finally relented. So with some angst, this past February, I organized Ganesh Himal's first (and only) artisan trip to Nepal, in honor of Candi!

 

Four others came along with Candi, and each of them from different areas of involvement in Fair Trade; Joan Frisz from Just Creations, and Sandi Thomson-Royer from Jubilee are both managers of non-profit stores; Martha Newell is a fair trade advocate and has been involved in Fair Trade education through FTRN board membership and the Women's Donor Network; and Kathy Lukefahr-Jewell is a fair trade consumer and just a lovely person! It seemed like the right mix and it was. We had an amazing time together and although I ran them rather ragged (I warned them I would) they were troopers and absorbed every last bit of information the artisans had to offer. The artisans, in turn, gave an amazing amount of their time and energy to help to educate the group. Sarah and Austin from the Ganesh Himal staff were along and were indispensable, as were Eileen, Michele and Ric who reluctantly stayed home to keep business running smoothly.

 

I know that each of the individuals who traveled with us is available to talk with you about their experience and to give you their own personal insight into Ganesh Himal.  And, as much as I know each and every one of you would have liked to come along, it's just not possible, so I chose those who had asked me for years and who had committed to moving this experience forward to the nth degree. They will have to be your eyes to these beautiful people we work with in Nepal. There is just too much work to be done to provide you with the beautiful products for me to take on another career as a tour guide but I want you to know how I wish you were all along for this wonderful journey (and in a way you were).

 

To give you a taste, we've included a bit of the thank you notes we received from Candi and Joan....enjoy.

 

 

From Candi: 

 

Imagine going to work and finding five people in your office, smiling kindly but leaning over your shoulder and asking questions while you're trying to get your job done. Add to that a work day that is much longer than eight hours, a work week that's eight days instead of five and it's all happening in a different culture and those five people could do something really dumb at any moment.


Great thanks to Denise, Austin and Sarah for putting up with exactly this situation with grace and humor and patience as five of us joined them for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see fair trade on a very personal level in Nepal.


It was a great privilege for me to see Denise in action. Her genuine love of the people of Nepal and their culture was evident in every communication. Her commitment to fair trade is strong. To see concrete examples of the fair trade principles of long-term commitment and capacity building was awesome. She has worked with most of these groups for over 25 years. In many cases she has become part of their extended family. She continually develops new products to satisfy the North American market while taking careful consideration of artisan skills and restrictions. She hasn't given up when groups fall on hard times but searches for creative ways to increase her purchases. She is sensitive to the realities of their environment and work situation making sure that her orders are placed to maximize continuity of work for them. The balancing act needed to accomplish all of this and make sure you have a sustainable business while doing it is amazing.


Thanks to all who remained in the States to keep things running while we rambled through Kathmandu.


I know this was a disruptive and exhausting thing for the Ganesh Himal team to do and that it won't be repeated. I appreciate this opportunity. I take my role in moving this forward seriously.


Great, great thanks.


Candi Smucker
 
And from Joan:
 
"I did want to take the opportunity to tell you just how much it meant to me to share the experience in Nepal with you...this one was really special. We talk so much about relationships in Fair Trade and that often is simply related to buying. What I saw and experienced with you were deep and real personal relationships..."Joan
 
For us at Ganesh Himal, and for me personally, this was truly a wonderful experience. It is a bit like opening your heart and hoping that people will step lightly on the things that you love so much. What I found was a profound deepening of the relationships I have with my fellow North Americans with whom I walk along this Fair Trade path and a deep respect for them and what they bring to this endeavor. We hope to deepen our relationships with all of you over the coming years and want to thank you all for your amazing support of our work together in Nepal.
 
Namaste!  
Denise
300
Brand New Products From Nepal!         
Here are just a few...  
For more visit our website
CS-N-HLS 
Long cotton knit shirt with angle hem, v-neck button collar and screen print design
S-XL, assorted colors 
 


    BG-D-PFL 
Recycled rubber crossbody bag w/ flap, magnetic closure & leather detail, standard Ganesh Himal cotton lining.
 11"L x 10.5" H x 2" W
AC-C-RSS 
Recycyled silk sari mobius scarf, 20" X 68 inch, asst (made from sari's)
STX-HB-FFP 
New fun fancy design felt potholder, assorted.
 STX-HB-NGM  
Felted grill mitt with thumb and loop, 10.5 X 5.5 inches wide, 
assorted stripes


BC-NS-MSP 
This product was made using cruelty-free silk, also known as "Peace Silk". Each bar comes is  beautiful paper packaging made from Lokta paper which is 100% sustainable and tree-free.

DH-C-PFPT  
Tiny hand block printed Tibetan Windhorse prayer flags.
Each strand has 10, 3" flags. 
PR-B-SGC 
Printed gift card with envelope,
 2.5X3.5, pack of 10 assorted.