Dear
All
It
has been a year since we embarked on Comolongmo.com with the aim
of helping to alleviate poverty in Nepal by promoting rugs made
by Kumbeshwar
Technical School (KTS) and other fair trade products of the
Kumbeshwar area. We thought we should mark our first anniversary
by launching the newsletter which we had promised to so many of
you.
First,
our sincere thanks to you for signing up for the newsletter. With
so much bad news in the world, it has been a privilege for us to
be involved in what many of you have described as “a nice
thing that is happening” and “positive news”.
It makes such a change from hearing all the time about wars and
killings. In all honesty the year has been tough for us with lots
of ups and downs – often feeling like more down than up! We
must admit that we could not have got this far without your continued
support. We are very touched by your generosity, your compassion
and support. We only have to look and see what a difference it has
made to the lives of so many people to remind ourselves how worthwhile
our project is.
COMOLONGMO.COM
BACKGROUND
In
October 2005, we decided to focus our efforts on helping KTS, a
charity Kabindra had helped establish in 1983. Although the charity
had become self-funding through the sale of its handmade products,
the decline in tourism over the last few years had taken away its
market. The Maoists’ actions were hurting most the poorest
sections of the community. KTS needed a wider market – if
tourists were not going to the products in Nepal, we had to bring
the products to them – and so we created our website.
Without
publicity, though, business was slow and we realised that we needed
to raise our profile. We prepared flyers, and set about researching
street markets. Starting at Bromley Antique Market in early May
2006, where we spoke to many people and gave out hundreds of flyers,
we moved on to the markets at Spitalfields and Greenwich in June.
We were excited by how vibrant and lively these markets are. Not
only has traffic on our website steadily increased, with your support,
in the last 3 months our sales have increased by more than 100%
month on month. Every product you have bought has directly helped
one of the most marginalised sections of the Nepalese community.
Each month we are able to order more and more
rugs, tea,
paper and jewellery.
Your support has helped to sustain employment for more than 100
of the most underprivileged families and has helped over 300 children
to go to school so that, through education, they can try to break
the circle of poverty.
Once
again, we would like to thank you for signing up for our newsletter
and for your support in buying our products and donations, but we
continue to need your support. Please recommend us to your friends
and, as Christmas approaches, remember what excellent gifts our
products make! If you know of a community or other group that would
be interested in a presentation
on KTS, please let us know.
In
conclusion, we could not have done this without your help and support.
We would also like to take this opportunity to express our deep
gratitude to our family in Nepal and Fiji, and our friends here
in England. Most of all, though, I would personally like to thank
my dear Mai for her patience, dedication and hard work.
Comolongmo.com
and family
www.comolongmo.com
Email: info@comolongmo.com
View
other newsletters:
Newsletter
12, Monday, 12 July 2010
Newsletter
11, Monday, 15 May 2010
Newsletter
10, Tuesday, 18 December 2009
Newsletter 9, Friday, 16 October
2009
Newsletter
8, Thursday, 5 March 2009
Newsletter 7, Sunday, 21 December 2008
Newsletter
6, Wednesday, 8 October 2008
Newsletter 5, Thursday, 4 September
2008
Newsletter 4, Friday, 4 May 2007
Newsletter
3, Friday, 4 May 2007
Newsletter
2, Wednesday, 18 April 2007
Newsletter 1, Tuesday, 7 November 2006
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