Dear
all
Another
Summer has passed by (though we may not have noticed it!) and
with it went more missed opportunities at the G8 Summit to address
world poverty. It is disappointing, though perhaps not surprising,
that our world leaders have wholly failed to deliver on the big
promises they made back in 2005. All the more important, then
that we each take whatever steps we can to fight against the poverty.
In
September 2005, we launched Comolongmo to market products produced
by KTS and other fair trade producers in Nepal, whose livelihoods
had almost been destroyed by the collapse of tourism. We would
like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued
support and for shopping with us. We would also like to extend
our special thanks to family and friends for all the support and
help we are receiving. Please bear in mind that without your support
we could not have continued our work. We could always do with
more help and are constantly looking for volunteers and paid help:
any help you can give, perhaps a few hours a month, will be very
much appreciated and will help us all to move closer to eliminating
poverty.
-oOo-
WHAT
IS IN THIS NEWSLETTER; please click to the links.
 KTS
RUGS – This month we introduced 17 new rug
designs, and we are delighted to say they have now become a celebrity
must have! One of the first of these new designs that went on
display in Spitalfields Market on 22nd was bought by Roberta Taylor:
you may remember her as Irene in “East Enders” or
Inspector Gina Gold in “The Bill”.
COMOLONGMO ORGANIC TEA
– we now have loose tea packed in beautiful hand
woven moonj baskets.
SILVER
JEWELLERY – we have considerably extended our
range of jewellery.
-oOo-
HOW
ARE WE CONTRIBUTING TO THE FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY IN NEPAL?
 Kumbeshwar
Technical School (KTS) was launched in June 1983 for the benefit
of the Pody community of the Kumbeshwar area of Nepal. The Pody
community was specifically chosen as a target group because they
were regarded as the “untouchable of untouchables”
in the Nepalese caste system. Simply by virtue of having Pody
caste status, they were denied even the basic privileges we often
take for granted - health care, job opportunities, religious worship
and, most importantly, education (as, in the vast majority of
cases, no school would admit them) or use common drinking water
fountains and taps.
 In
our recent visit to Nepal in June 2007, we were pleased to meet
with many members of the Pody community in Kumbeshwar. In particular,
we were pleased to be able to spend a few hours with one member
of the community, Ratna Lal Daula, during which we exchanged our
memories and experiences of the development of KTS. Ratna Lal
said “in 1983 there were about 7 [Pody] children attending
primary schools, including about 3 in the local government primary
schools. Most of them dropped out before getting to 3rd grade.
Today, due to KTS, everybody in our street can read or write,
every child goes to a school and has at least primary education
and at least 14 have graduated from high school.” For more
details please click here.
-oOo-
OUR
FORTHCOMING NEW PRODUCTS – to mark our 2nd anniversary,
we are launching many new exciting products - please check them
out.
- COMOLONGMO
ORGANIC TEA
– We are pleased to introduce products made by the KTS
knitwear department – we have 10 beautiful new items for
tea packaging of which 8 comes from KTS knitwear department.
- NEPALESE
HANDMADE PAPER
– Christmas cards, A4 paper in various size packs to make
your own cards, art work, and origami. Many new varieties of
paper for gift-wrapping or bigger projects – you can even
use them for making lamp-shades! Notebooks for keeping diaries
or journals and writing pads.
- KTS
RUGS
– we will be introducing 15 new rug designs in various
sizes.
- SILVER
JEWELLERY
– we have many exciting new designs in our silver jewellery
department.
- PASHMINA
- we are introducing a small range of pashminas which will be
available exclusively through our website.
-oOo-
HOW
CAN YOU HELP THE FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY?
There are, of course, many ways in which you can help reduce poverty,
but one of the best ways is by buying goods through a Fair Trade
outlet, like Comolongmo. When you buy products from Fair trade
outlets it helps make people less dependent by allowing them to
put their skills and resources to use. It helps producers directly
at grass-root level, with benefits that filter throughout the
community.
For
example, though KTS was launched for the benefit of 96 Pody families
at Kumbeshwar, today it benefits more than 5000 families. While
KTS provides employment opportunities to more than 1000 people
directly, it also provides other benefits such as health-care,
food and, most importantly for future development, education to
children.
 We
are working to bring the KTS carpet-weaving programme production
unit to full capacity. We will only be able to achieve this with
your support. KTS currently has about 16 weavers working full
time. We are aiming to double this figure by the end of the year.
This means 16 more families that will have an adult in full-time
employment and, with it, a decent place to sleep and meals to
eat. Crucially, it will mean some 32 more children will get an
opportunity to go to school.
Finally, let me leave you with another reminder that I do presentations
with slides of KTS and the Kumbeshwar region of Nepal, which have
been very warmly received. If you know of any local clubs, charities,
churches, voluntary organisations, schools or other bodies looking
for a speaker on an interesting subject, I would be extremely
grateful for their contact details or your recommendation.
Thank
you for continued support.
Regards
Kabindra
and Comolongmo family
www.comolongmo.com
Email: info@comolongmo.com
View
other newsletters:
Newsletter 15, Thursday, 29 Septebmer
2011
Newsletter
14, Saturday, 16 October 2010
Newsletter 13, Monday, 13 Septebmer
2010
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, Saturday, 1 September 2007
Newsletter
3, Friday, 4 May 2007
Newsletter
2, Wednesday, 18 April 2007
Newsletter 1, Tuesday, 7 November
2006
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