Stupa Trading

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ last=”yes” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=”0.1″ class=”” id=”” min_height=”” hover_type=”none” link=””][fusion_imageframe lightbox=”no” style_type=”none” hover_type=”none” bordersize=”0px” borderradius=”0″ align=”none” linktarget=”_self” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ hide_on_mobile=”no”] [/fusion_imageframe][fusion_title size=”1″ content_align=”left” style_type=”default”]Stupa Trading[/fusion_title][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ last=”yes” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=”0.1″ class=”” id=”” min_height=”” hover_type=”none” link=””][fusion_text]

Fleeing from Tibet at the age of 12 with little schooling and no money, Pema-la Lama struggled to settle herself in to her new country of Nepal. A refugee there, she taught herself to read and write in Nepali and learned how to knit and sew, all the while caring for 6 younger siblings and tending to a father dying of cancer. In 1984 she lived with her husband Namgyal , also a Tibetan refugee, who fled when he was one, and their baby daughter, Chimi in a small room in Kathmandu with no water, bathroom or kitchen. They supported themselves with sales from a small shop where they sold bags and knitwear that they made.

As we came to know Pema-la and Namgyal we quickly learned that as Tibetan refugees they had little help from the Nepalese government and that to survive they needed to make their own way. They wanted to partner with us to create a business that would support them, their young family and their dreams. They recongized the need to educate their children and give them skills. They wanted their educated children to become ambassadors to the world and expose the brutal takeover of their country by the Chinese. As Tibetan Buddhists they wanted to pursue their path with compassion and respect for others. Ric and I wondered, as we heard their stories, how we could work together to help make their dreams reality. They were one of the inspirations for us beginning our own venture into Fair Trade and creating Ganesh Himal Trading.

Since 1984 we have worked together with Pema-la and Namgyal as families, friends and business associates to develop businesses that work to benefit all involved. Pema-la has worked harder than almost anyone we know to create this reality. From their humble beginnings, she and her husband have built a strong fair trade business that has helped send their three daughters to good schools and improve the lives of many others. They have set an example of how a successful business can be run with compassion at its core.

In February of 2007, more than 20 years after our first meeting, Pema-la and I sat and reflected on what they have done. Here is more of their story.

As their business grew Pema-la needed to bring other tailors and knitters in to help. She worked side by side with people who had been dispossessed to help create meaningful and profitable work for them. Men like Durba Pariyar who was no longer able to support his family through his small sewing shop. Pema-la asked him to become her master tailor and taught him cutting and patterning. When he wanted to provide work to young men in his village she brought those young men to Kathmandu and taught them to sew. When they had all worked together as a good team she set up a profit sharing plan for all of them so that as the business grew they would all benefit. This profit sharing plan gave them all a voice in the decision making process and a percentage of the profits. It was the first example of its kind in the Kathmandu Valley. When the Maoists came into Kathmandu during the early 2000’s demanding that workshops be closed because owners were not present, Pema-la’s group told them they couldn’t close their workshop because they were all owners. Their workshop was one of the few that was allowed to remain open.

Pema-la and Namgyal have not stopped there. As the Nepalese countryside was ripped apart with civil war they reached out to village women who had been widowed in the conflict.   As women fled to the cities to escape the fighting, some were given shelter by a friend of Pema-la’s in Nepalgunj. There they had shelter and food but no work. Pema-la heard of their plight and brought 10 of these women to Kathmandu and put them up in a hotel and gave them a month-long intensive training course in knitting. These women then returned to the shelter and taught others to knit. They are now making many of the knit socks, hats and other knit accessories which Pema-la provides to us at Ganesh Himal Trading.

Early in our business together Namgyal-la taught himself the intricacies of cargo freight forwarding so that we could all avoid the graft and corruption of existing shipping agencies. Over the 20+ years we’ve worked together he has grown this cargo company into one of the best and most respected frieght companies in Nepal. He was so well respected for his work and dedication that he was elected as the head of Nepal’s Freight Forwarding Association and as such brought forward the need to treat all workers within the cargo arena with care and respect. As head of the Freight forwarders association he even locked high government officials out of their offices when these officials denied the cargo porters needed work just because the officials wanted the day off. His work with government officials to promote trade and graft free shipping won him the “Civil Voice for Peace and Development “ Award in 2006. He was thrilled to have been handed this by the Prime Minister himself.

An update in 2017

Pema-la and Namgyal’s three daughters are grown now. They all finished college in the US and their daughters have been the pride of their lives. Tragically, Pema-la’s husband and our dear friend Namgyal died suddenly of an aggressive liver cancer in 2007 leaving us all with a great sense of loss. It would be to his great pride to know that his middle daughter, Kesang, an accomplished and well educated young woman returned to Nepal to take over her father’s role in running the freight cargo business he had built from scratch. Kesang and her elder sister Chimme also created their own fair trade business, Padhma Creations, working with the abused and trafficked women their mother had trained to knit in Nepalgunj. Namgyal and Pemala had taken Kesang to the shelter in Nepalgunj when she was younger and it had a profound impact on her. “I remember being shocked at the sight of a 13-year-old village girl being rescued from trafficking by the police,” Kesang once said. “The story was that a distant relative of hers had intentions of selling her to a brothel in Mumbai. This incident created a lasting and profound impression on my life.”

Kesang and Chimme are now the second generation of a family committed to fair trade practices. They are both strong believers in helping others and Ganesh Himal has partnered with them since the inception of their business to bring their products into the North American market. It is remarkable to partner with these young, strong and compassionate young Tibetan women.

The goal of Padhma Creations and Ganesh Himal Trading is to provide Nepali women who have been trafficked or abused, economic development skills so that they can gain economic self sufficiency. Understanding that it takes more than just a fair wage to bring women out of severe crisis together we have sought to provide women with health, education and social welfare programs. Since 2012 Ganesh Himal has contributed $1.00 for every item purchased from Padhma Creations to a Worker Development Fund. This money is set aside to provide a social benefit package that will give the infrastructural support lacking to women in Nepal and to compliment the already existing fair wage. The women have used a portion of this fund to provide scholarships for education, medical expenses, funeral costs, family emergencies and retirement. Originally, the educational scholarships were prioritized for the women most in need, but as the fund grew the number of recipients grew and now, all of the children of Padhma knitters are on scholarship (49 children as of 2015).  Microloans are now also available and each month a knitter can borrow up to $200 at 1% interest. From 2013 to 2016 Ganesh contributed -$21,532 to Padhma’s social welfare fund and is proud to have given them the financial stability in the fund to create lasting change in the lives of these knitters and their families.

Pema-la continues to work with her group of knitters and manages 15 tailors in Kathmandu. Each employee is paid on a per piece basis and she pays 50% higher than regular tailor’s wages.  Free lodging and electricity is available for the producers near the workshop if needed.  They receive a one hour break for lunch, afternoon tea with snack are provided daily, and they can work for paid overtime if they choose.  They are given a one month extra salary for a holiday bonus and are paid medical leave. Many of the tailors have worked with Pema-la for 10-15 years.

As Pemala nears her own retirement she has realized that she needs to begin to think of the retirement of those, particularly the women, she has worked with for so long. Just last week, on April 21, I got an email from Pemala stating “I am writing to ask you a request on behalf of my knitters.  Many of the knitters have been working with Ganesh Himal for the past 25+ years, they are my extended family. Last month, one of our old knitters was having a personal family issue where her husband was cheating on her and I felt very bad and tried to console her. It is a very complex family matter but I would like to help her with a retirement savings fund. As I am nearing retirement, I have been thinking of setting up a small retirement fund for all my knitters who have worked with me for many years.

This is a small request on behalf of my knitters. If it is possible, for each item they knit could you add 70 cents so I can set up this fund just like Kesang has set up the education, festival and emergency fund for her knitters. All this money will go directly towards helping the women and by helping the women, we realize that we are supporting her entire family. “

You can tell the type of woman that Pemala is from this email. She has always done her work from a perspective of offering help to others, especially those less fortunate. We at Ganesh Himal will be thrilled to help develop this new program alongside Pemala and we love the idea that she has watched the social development fund of her daughters that we also helped to set up. It is reflective of the strong and trusting relationship that we have that she can send a request such as this to her trading partner. Throughout 30+ years of relationship we have created a close bond between our two companies and are able to have honest and direct communications about our needs. This is the value of fair trade and the long term relationships it requires.

I can tell you so much more around the work that Pemala, Kesang and Ganesh Himal Trading were able to do around earthquake relief for the artisans but that would require more time than I know that you have!

So, in reflecting over these years together and our shared path of fair trade it’s amazing to see the work that has been done and the lives that have been affected just in this one family. Pema-la and Namgyal’s dreams of compassionate work, educating their daughters and creating sustainable, lasting partnerships that benefit those with the least advantage have all been realized and continue to grow stronger and provide more benefit despite a 10 year civil war. Tibet is not yet free but Pema-la and her children continue to remain proud of their heritage and promote its enhancement, in their adopted home and throughout the world. These amazing people have helped to create big change in the lives of many less advantaged people, including their own. It has been a great gift for us at Ganesh Himal Trading to work with them these many years. Your purchase of their products is a vital link to keeping their good work alive.

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