New Shipment, Fair Aid, & Looking Forward
by Denise Attwood
Less than three months ago we returned from Nepal, and what an amazing trip it was. After 30 years of traveling to Nepal my take away from this trip had been how happy I was to see hope again and a movement forward after their devastating civil war. Something had changed and people felt less tense and more at ease, there was excitement about the future and a lightness in their being.
During that trip in March we celebrated with our friends at ACP and the children receiving educational scholarships through our foundation's fundraising. We met and listened to young women with such vision and insight that it blew my mind. We worked with producers on hundreds of new products, met with a group of young paraplegic men to help create new recycled rubber products, taught weavers how to weave with plastic bags and found creative ways to use more and more recycled items in our products. We organized and set up our foundation's newly established "Menstrual Pad Project" and delivered 2 sewing machines to the remote Baseri clinic to start a small economic development project there. We met with the village committee in Baseri that runs the clinic and together we planned for the next 5 years, hiring a new health assistant and exploring the ideas of creating a maternal health center. We explored, laughed and planned for the bright future of Nepal and our artisan friends there.
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Thank you Cynthia Becker, Akeena Legall and Jose Escrig for volunteering your time to make this great video!
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What a difference a month can make. With the huge 7.8 magnitude April 25th earthquake, followed by the equally devastating 7.3 earthquake on May 12th life in Nepal has been changed forever. Nepalis are the most resilient people I know and yet they have been literally shaken to the core. Luckily all of our producers and friends are safe, but the task of rebuilding their lives and mental health will be a huge endeavor. And so, we move forward, together with them, into the next part of the journey.
So, exactly where does one start to rebuild? Back at square one, but for
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See our map relief page for donation distribution and relief projects we support!
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us with 30 years of strong relationships. For Ganesh Himal Trading our starting point was with our Fair Trade community. No sooner had the earthquake struck than we heard from stores around the country asking, no, stating, that they were going to help. They set out donation jars on their counters and made pledges to double what they received. They held garage sales in front of their stores, hosted dinners and shopping nights for donations. There
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For updates and information about how to donate, see our Earthquake Relief page here.
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were penny drives, bake sales, concerts, zumbathons and so much more. An
d there were
those who said they'd wait and fundraise later when everyone had forgotten. Luckily, last summer, we created the non-profit Conscious Connections Foundation and all donations were funneled into that and into to our newly found mission of "Fair Aid". We cannot thank you enough for being there to do this vital fundraising right from the start. Continue reading here>>
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