Hand Felted Nativity Women Nepal

These hand felted goods are a very special order from Nepal where a group of women have opened a small business.  We only have a limited supply, but if one is out email us as we are planning a second order.  Below is the information about the owners:

Three ethnic Tibetan women from the mountains of Eastern Nepal began a small business. We are the first and only business owned and operated by women among our people group. We are uneducated but with the help of many of our friends, we were able to start and grow this wonderful business which has provided amazing opportunities for us as well as many women in our community. We taught ourselves and our artisans the beautiful and intricate art of bead crochet and this skill has been the foundation of our business. Over the years our skills have deepened and we love coming up with new designs together and challenging ourselves to never stop creating. It is our hearts desire to provide good, wholesome, creative work, skills development training and true hope to the women of the Himalayas. We seek to enhance and enrich the lives of the artisans that we work with, who are from villages throughout the Himalayan mountains of Nepal.

Many of our artisans do not have the education needed to find good jobs in Nepal and they are incredibly thankful for the work they have. Our artisans come from all different walks of life. Their ages range from 18-50, some are single and others married, some have children and others none. Levels of formal education also vary widely. Most of our artisans have never been to school, a few have attended through grade school, a handful have graduated from high school and a few of our artisans are working to put themselves through college. Living arrangements also vary; from corrugated metal one-room buildings with dirt floors and an outdoor kitchen to a two-bedroom apartment. Some of our women live without the conveniences of indoor plumbing or running water. The energy that is required to do daily household chores—cooking, cleaning, laundry, caring for children—takes exponentially more time in Nepal and it is because of these unique needs of our women artisans that we have structured our business model so that they are able to make their jewelry at home throughout the week. We all meet together every Tuesday at our office; and the rest of the week, our artisans work from home. Each week, we collect and check the previous week’s work and give new orders for the coming week. We also have time to drink tea together and spend time doing what all women around the world enjoy —- talking and catching up on each other’s lives. We truly are a family and we love that part about what we do. In addition to caring well for our own artisans we also seek to impact and invest in the community around us. We have a strong desire to help the elderly people in our community, especially those without a spouse or children to care for them. We believe that as we are blessed it is our privilege to bless others. We have a big vision for the future and we thank you for each and every one of your purposeful purchases that allow us to impact more and more lives here in Nepal.