In the steppe in Mongolia and in the mountains in Nepal spinning and weaving was mostly the work of farmers who had the winter months in their houses to busy themselves with tasks other than agriculture. They spun wool and wove it into narrow lengths of fine, dense fabric or in ropes. Nomads catered to their own needs, spinning and weaving sheep, yak and camel wool that farmers considered coarse and unrefined.
Today herders with whom we are working are trained to comb their yak and camels to deliver the best quality for Nomadnoos while our qualified spinners applying their natural skills to transform these fibers into yarns.
Our partner workshop is made up of Nepalese persons living in or nearby Kathmandu. They now sustain their livelihood from fiber craft
Sita Paneru Thapa - is one of these amazing women who, after having her 2 children and working for 3 years in a Kathmandu based textile factory, started to spin and decided to train women in hand spinning. Today, she trained more than 100 women and still continues this training.
Hand spinning is an opportunity for these women to increase their livelihood. In this way, she started to realize her dream, to become a social worker while empowering other women.
Sunu Maghi - lives in Kathmandu. Her dream is to be able to send her daughter to a better school with the money she gains from spinning.
Phulmaya Pariyar - lives in Kathmandu. She aims to keep on spinning and gardening to earn some extra money and support in that way herself and her children's education.
Laxmi Shrestha - lives in Kathmandu. By continuing spinning, she will have some extra income for herself and for her children's study.
Bachchu Shrestha - lives in Kathmandu. Spinning will give her some additional income and helps her to increase her livelihood.
Devlaxmi Joshi - lives in Kathmandu. She wants to continue spinning and knitting which will provide her with a decent income.
Sabin bahadur Vaidhya - Husband of Kamala Vaidhya. Actually, it was always his wife who took the fibers and he spins. We are so happy to have him because he is a very qualified spinner! He finally agreed to come and show his talent and loyalty towards works because spinning is not considered as a job for men in Nepal.
Sujita karki - Sujita, 20 years old, has a girl of the age of 9 months. Before being pregnant she worked in a factory following fair trade principles. She was trained by our spinner manager who learned her to spin.