Ganesh Himal Trading

Category: Girl Child Education in Nepal

  • LOOK FOR THE BOOKMARKS!

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    A new school year is just around the corner and in our continued support of girls’ education in Nepal, we will be including student profile bookmarks in each of our journals.  Each bookmark highlights a young student who receives educational stipends from the Power of 5, a program of Ganesh Himal’s non-profit arm, the Conscious Connections Foundation.  Each bookmark also highlights why girls are such an amazing investment.

    Ganesh Himal encourages and appreciates all of our customers who continue to raise funds for the Power of 5 through donation jars at checkout or other means.  Together, our pocket change is global change and we can’t thank you enough for your support!

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  • Namaste

    Namaste

    Namaste from Nepal! 

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    Project4
    Read the whole newsletter here

    There is nothing like seeing hope for the future in the midst of hardship and devastation that seems insurmountable. But it’s here, alive and well in Nepal and it’s unbelievable.  The unbeatable Nepali spirit is a constant inspiration and makes me realize that perception can often help us beat the odds. For Nepali’s they have no option so they make the best of a very, very difficult situation and amazingly theydo it with a smile.  So we move forward into a New Year (literally, the Nepali New Year is in a few weeks) with the odds still difficult but the will as strong as the Himalaya!

    Being in Nepal we get to see the spirit of the future in the brightness of the eyes of the 3 young women who received the Joy Attwood College Scholarship fund from CCF several days ago. Three girls who worked hard, even when they lost their homes.  Girls who had the tenacity to continue to work hard in school and apply for and win the CCF scholarships. They and their parents were so proud. The
           scholarship recipients
    y kept their hope alive through it all and see themselves becoming nurses and a cardiologist and returning to their villages to care for the poor. Their parents work with the Fair Trade organization, the Association for Craft Producers, which has had the foresight to organize stipends from CCF’s Power of 5 donations to enable the producers to keep their girls in school. It keeps hope alive. We have seen first hand the effect of your donations to Conscious Connections Foundation and the effectiveness that this money and kindness has wrought. We have been very deliberate with this money and have seen hope come alive in areas where we thought none could exist. We cannot thank you enough for that support, both monetarily and spiritually. CCF board member Cameron Conner and CCF volunteer Grant Gallaher have just completed an extensive evaluation of the work of CCF over these past 11 months of Earthquake relief so that you can see where your dollars went and how effective they were. We invite you all to take a look at this and realize how your donations have kept hope alive.
    Through these past 11 months we have also witnessed, in a very unique way, the value of economic partnership, through long-standing fair trade relationships. Fair Trade Federation members, in addition to Ganesh Himal, have kept producers hope alive and helped them weather an incomprehensible natural disaster. It strengthens my belief in the Fair Trade model even more and makes me understand how valuable it is in creating a future that is hopeful. There is a Hindu proverb that says it all “Help your neighbor’s boat across and lo, your own has reached the shore”. It really is that simple. We can help each other; it keeps hope alive.
    There are so many stories I could share with you but right now we have a clinic to build, a small rural K-3 school to finish, more food aid to distribute, producers to work with and new products to create!  Thank you for standing beside us and keeping our hope alive. I hope to have more amazing stories to share with you in the near future.
    Namaste,
    Denise & Ric

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  • Frontline Fair Trade

    Frontline Fair Trade

    Never in anyone’s wildest dreams did we imagine that our small foundation, set up for rural health care and the education of Nepali girls, would be involved in one of the largest humanitarian disaster relief projects of this decade. Spurred on by the dire need of Nepali friends and their depiction of a country that came crashing down around them, there was never any question of if CCF would get involved, only how.

    On April 25th of 2015, CCF leapt into action. As news came to us, drop by drop, we broadcast it, far and wide, through every channel we had at our disposal. The kindness and generosity we at CCF observed during those hours of shocked silence on the morning of the 25th was overwhelming. Within hours of the news, your support came flooding in. Within days, that support was transformed into the most vital emergency aid: food, shelter, and medicine. Within less than a week, these resources were in the hands of the Nepali people. It is thanks to your prompt and generous actions that this, and much more, has been accomplished. It is thanks to you that CCF has been able to accomplish what it never before thought possible. Within less than a month of the earthquake, CCF had distributed $26,000 worth of food and shelter, and here is what that looks like:

    • Over 6,000 people immediately provided with food for one month
    • Approximately 1,200 people immediately provided with shelter 

    Thanks to the compassion of individuals hailing from every corner of the globe, CCF was able to rapidly reach thousands of people, spread through four Nepalese districts, all of which had been heavily affected and largely isolated from outside assistance.
    From June through August, we provided an additional $10,300 to the Association for Craft Producers (ACP) as a portion of our Artisan Relief Project. This money has been put towards rebuilding the homes of ACP artisans which were either destroyed or damaged during the Earthquakes.

    We Are Proud!
    The earthquake relief undertaken by CCF has been our largest project to date, both in number of resources expended, and lives impacted. As of September 10th, we have been able to raise a staggering total of $155,000! During the initial “emergency r elief phase” we distributed close to $40,000, now, with the need for immediate aid gradually diminishing, CCF has turned its focus on long-term rebuilding and recovery. Out of our remaining funds, we have set aside $60,000 for the reconstruction of the Durali Community Service Center (which houses the Baseri Clinic) and the remaining $55,000 for the process of permanently rebuilding homes, schools, and other vital facilities.

    Where Will We Go From Here?
    In light of all that has transpired, we at CCF felt obligated to fully explore and understand the impact of where we’ve been and where we will be going. To this end, in October of 2015, four representatives of the Conscious Connections Foundation (CCF), Chair Denise Attwood, Vice President Ric Conner, Research Associate Grant Gallaher, and Vice President Cameron Conner, will be traveling to Nepal. Our hope is that this work will result in a clear and concise list of recommendations, aimed at addressing where and how we can best help our Nepali partners begin to rebuild their villages, families, and lives. Ultimately, our goal is the restoration of these communities to the extent that there is no longer any need for any further earthquake relief and we can return CCF to its primary initiatives, including the Power of Five and Deurali Community Service Center.The Research
    The focus of our work in Nepal will be on the three primary Earthquake Relief Projects (ERPs) of CCF: Artisan Relief, Beseri Relief, and General Relief (check out CCFs upd ated website to learn more about each!). We hope to achieve the most accurate and useful information through a simple and elegant Nepali custom: having tea. By sitting down with those who have benefited from CCF assistance, or those who have played a key role in this relief process, we hope to have honest, open, and comfortable conversations. To find the most authentic idea of how and where CCF’s help is most needed, the four CCF representatives mentioned above will be trekking through the districts of Dhading and Ghorka for close to one month, visiting six CCF assisted villages. Following this initial month long stage, Denise and Ric will return to Spokane, while Grant and Cameron will remain in Nepal for an additional six weeks, continuing the research and evaluation and volunteering in the rebuilding efforts.Update!
    While in Kathmandu, Grant, Cameron, and fellow CCF partner, Ishwor Basnet, will also be attending a two day long course on the construction of natural, earthquake proof, affordable Earthbag houses, taught by former director of Builders without Borders, Dr. Owen Geiger. If practical, CCF hopes to propose rebuilding the Deurali Community Service Center in this style to the village committee of Baseri. If agreed upon, the clinic could then potentially be used as a model for other rebuilding projects in the area.Strength, Compassion, Resilience
    In my many trips to Nepal, I have seen many heart warming actions amidst unimaginable suffering. Through all this the Nepali people glide with a seemingly untouchable attitude of optimism. Perhaps the most stirring example of this came just days after the initial earthquake, days after the Deurali Community Service Center had been reduced to rubble. The story of the Baseri Clinic provides a fitting testament to the character of strength, compassion, and resilience possessed by the Nepali people, and a physical demonstration of CCF’s driving values. In this unique spirit of unshakable optimism, the villagers of Baseri unearthed the most useful supplies that were intact from the old clinic and, using what little materials they had, reopened their clinic on May 15th. With the supplies salvaged from the rubble, it now operates out of a makeshift tin hut. It was among the first buildings to be rebuilt. This new manifestation shows once again that, though the physical building of the old Community Center is no longer, its spirit lives on! Moreover, it is your support and compassion that has allowed for the cultivation of these channels through which this spirit now flows!

  • Back to School Fair Trade Style 2015
    Denise Attwood
    Co-Owner
    This is the time of year when we in North America think “back to school”.  There’s a bit of excitement in the air as we anticipate minds filling with new ideas and dreams of a brighter world to come.  I have been thinking a lot about education of late as we delve deeply into learning about earthquake relief and the best way to distribute resources to those who are in grave need. I think about the learning required to rebuild lives and yet carry on tradition; the learning behind how to work with partners who are suffering great loss but who must still strive to support themselves and their families. Once again I am brought back to the importance of relationships and how it is through interaction and love for each other that we learn and accomplish the most.
    In the past few months since the earthquakes we have allocated resources to many of our producer partners through both Ganesh Himal Trading and through the Conscious Connections Foundation’s Artisan relief fund.  We have watched as these funds have been put directly into people’s hands and used to provide monetary relief, emergency food, tin for roofs, tarps, medicine and more. These resources were provided to directly address the self declared needs of those affected by the earthquake.  Having up to 30 year long relationships with the individuals dispersing these funds and knowing that we could trust their judgment has helped us learn and further appreciate how listening to your friends and trusting them to control resources results in amazing accomplishments. People are now beginning to rebuild and restore, and, in order to catalyze this process, as you have seen through our recent shipments, they are getting back to work.
    We are poised to learn more in the months to come as Ric, myself, and our son Cameron together with his friend Grant travel to Nepal, at our own
    Food and supplies delivered to Baseri, Nepal after the earthquake

    expense, to explore further how CCF and GHT funds have been used, evaluate their effect, learn about how to do it better and discuss with our partners in Nepal the next best steps in moving toward permanent rebuilding and what our role in that can be. We will spend a month visiting the villages and producers who received relief as well as talk with the village council in Baseri about the rebuilding of the clinic there. Then Cameron and Grant, taking a bridge year before they head to college, will spend the next 2 months looking at other small, medium and large scale aid to try to learn about what worked best and where.  Follow along by visiting the Conscious Connections Website. They will be writing a blog on our findings and we’ll post that on the CCF and GHT Facebook pages as well. This is a huge learning curve and you can be right there learning with us!

    Just as there is a need to restructure the trading system through relationship, partnering and Fair Trade, we believe that as the world deals increasingly with disaster we must learn to restructure the “aiding system” as well. It is imperative that we begin the discussion about relationship in aid, learning from those on the ground who we believe have much to teach us.

     

    Thank you for all of your help!
    Denise

     

  • Power of 5 Update

    IMG_4839

    We recently had the great joy of sending $15,000 to The Association of Craft Producers for the their Child Education program. Thanks to everyone who helped raise this extraordinary amount of money in just a few months! In particular we would like to thank Ethical Choices, 10,000 Villages Austin, Just Creations, The Bridge, Kizuri, Garuda, Peacecraft, Momentum, Gaia’s, Jubilee, Greater Goods, Yesterday Today & Tomorrow, Sphere of Influence, Made by Hand, Work of our Hands, One World Fair Trade, Trinity Lutheran Church for their recent contributions. And we would like to thank everyone who sponsored a Power of 5 Fundraiser in their stores over the past 13 months! We continue to be so humbled by the generous spirit of all of our customers. Thank you for helping girls in Nepal stay in school!

    Below is a message from our good friend who is the director of the Association for Craft Producers who organize this scholarship program in Nepal!

    Meera Bhatterai, the Executive Director of ACP, wanted to share her gratitude:

    Dear Denise,

    Greetings from ACP!

    You are amazing! You have made it happen!! Congratulations to you and all those who have joined hands together for the Power of 5 Project. It is a remarkable achievement. Our salutation to you and the team! We admire your zeal and untiring efforts.

    We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to you and all those kind hearted individuals who have actively canvassed for this noble cause and contributed towards our Child Education Program. Your support has demonstrated your faith in us and enabled us to provide our children their basic right- Right to Education.

    With your generous support we have been able to double the Education Allowance from this year. This has been a tremendous help to our producers to weather their economic difficulties and keep their children in school. We intend to extend the allowance for another two years from next year.

    Once again our sincere thanks to all of you for your willingness to help our children go to school. Your help for today has provided a hope for tomorrow. This is the difference you make!

    Warm regards,
    Meera Bhattarai
    Executive Director

    For more info, visit www.ganeshhimaltrading.com/poweroffive

    The Power of 5 has sent $35,000 to Nepal over the last 13 months

  • Power of 5 Update

    IMG_4839

    We recently had the great joy of sending $15,000 to The Association of Craft Producers for the their Child Education program. Thanks to everyone who helped raise this extraordinary amount of money in just a few months! In particular we would like to thank Ethical Choices, 10,000 Villages Austin, Just Creations, The Bridge, Kizuri, Garuda, Peacecraft, Momentum, Gaia’s, Jubilee, Greater Goods, Yesterday Today & Tomorrow, Sphere of Influence, Made by Hand, Work of our Hands, One World Fair Trade, Trinity Lutheran Church for their recent contributions. And we would like to thank everyone who sponsored a Power of 5 Fundraiser in their stores over the past 13 months! We continue to be so humbled by the generous spirit of all of our customers. Thank you for helping girls in Nepal stay in school!

    Below is a message from our good friend who is the director of the Association for Craft Producers who organize this scholarship program in Nepal!

    Meera Bhatterai, the Executive Director of ACP, wanted to share her gratitude:

    Dear Denise,

    Greetings from ACP!

    You are amazing! You have made it happen!! Congratulations to you and all those who have joined hands together for the Power of 5 Project. It is a remarkable achievement. Our salutation to you and the team! We admire your zeal and untiring efforts.

    We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to you and all those kind hearted individuals who have actively canvassed for this noble cause and contributed towards our Child Education Program. Your support has demonstrated your faith in us and enabled us to provide our children their basic right- Right to Education.

    With your generous support we have been able to double the Education Allowance from this year. This has been a tremendous help to our producers to weather their economic difficulties and keep their children in school. We intend to extend the allowance for another two years from next year.

    Once again our sincere thanks to all of you for your willingness to help our children go to school. Your help for today has provided a hope for tomorrow. This is the difference you make!

    Warm regards,
    Meera Bhattarai
    Executive Director

    For more info, visit www.ganeshhimaltrading.com/poweroffive

    The Power of 5 has sent $35,000 to Nepal over the last 13 months

  • Power of 5 launched and Girls Scholarships get funded!

    While in Nepal in 2013, Ganesh Himal staff had the opportunity to meet with two recipients of the ACP Girl Child Education Fund, an girl scholarship fund at the Association for Craft Producers that Ganesh Himal has donated to for years. Sisters Heema, 16, and Heena, 10, had both received a scholarship for 3 years and loved school, but their scholarships were ending. Due to high demand for the program and lack of funds, ACP had to limit scholarships to no longer than 3 years for the children of their producers. Determined to extend Heema and Heena’s scholarships, we at Ganesh Himal each donated $5 with the dream that we could get 1000 people to do the same. The Power of 5 campaign was born.

    What can $5 do? It can buy you a coffee, or a hamburger. It can buy you a gallon of gas. Or, it can help a girl in Nepal attend school for 2 weeks. That means that for 10 days a young girl is reading, writing, learning with her friends, and stretching her imagination. What happens if she isn’t at school? She is three times more likely to be married before her 18th birthday. She stays at home, and the traditional cycle of exclusion that keeps girls disengaged from decision making continues. $5 helps a young girl battle the cycle of poverty.

    Now imagine if all of your friends gave $5. Then they asked all of their friends to donate $5? 10 friends donating $5 is a scholarship for one girl to go to school for 6 months! That’s a ripple–an ever-expanding body of people changing the lives of girls in Nepal. And the ripple doesn’t stop there. These girls each create their own ripples of change starting with their families, then their village, and even their country. When 10% more girls go to school, a country’s GDP increases an average of 3% according to the Council of Foreign Relations. That affects the world. The ripple is limitless, and it starts with $5. This is the Power of 5.

    Our goal is to sponsor at least 100 girls, or boys if in need, in Nepal for one more year of schooling through the ACP Child Education Fund. In order to do so, we need 2,000 people to donate $5. We’ve created beautiful bookmarks for you to use to collect donations. By asking for a $5 donation for each bookmark you place in your store, you not only help us reach our goal, but you start the discussion about why girls are such an amazing investment and about why they aren’t in school.

    There are two ways of creating a ripple:

    Personal Ripple– Place  bookmarks in your store and ask for a donation of $5 for each.Customers can get involved as individuals and feel good knowing that 100% of their donation is going towards the ACP Child Education Fund. Not only that, their donation is tax deductible through the Conscious Connections Foundation, a foundation started by the founders of Ganesh Himal Trading.

    Power of 5 Ripple–

    Encourage friends/regular customers/community members to take a packet of bookmarks (either 5, 15, or 30) to distribute for donations amongst their friends. If each person finds 5 friends who turn around and find 5 friends, then through networking, the ripple multiplies by the power of 5. You can use your store as the collection point, creating community and exposing new people to the world of Fair Trade and girl’s education.

    Join the Power of 5 campaign today. Here’s how…

    1) Request a packet of bookmarks via the Ganesh Himal website. www.ganeshhimaltrading.com If you want to participate in the Power of 5 Ripple then order multiple smaller packets; if a personal Ripple better suits your store, then order one large packet.

    2) We will issue you an invoice for the number of bookmarks you want and send them with your next order.

    3) You gather donations for the bookmarks and write a check to Conscious Connections Foundation and send it to PO Box 342 Spokane WA  for the amount of donations gathered. Please put  “donation for Power of 5”  in the memo line. The Power of 5 is a project of the Conscious Connections Foundation which is a 501©3 nonprofit organization recognized by the IRS. EIN #:471602190 and all donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

    4) CCF is all volunteer run and so is the program in Nepal so 100% of donations will go directly to sending children, who otherwise would not be able to attend, to school in Nepal. Our focus and priority is on sending girls to school but if girls are served and boys are in need we will sponsor them as well.  If each of us gives a little, it’s no longer pocket change but big change: JOIN THE POWER OF 5!

    Use these to generate donations for the scholarship fund AND raise awareness about the importance of educating girls!