Kumbeshwar Technical School, Kathmandu
If you're born to the 'pode' caste in Nepal, you are expected to clean the sewers and streets of the areas inhabited by higher castes. In return, you will be paid a pittance - sometimes no more than scraps of left-over food.
The Kumbeshwar Technical School in Kathmandu provides education, vocational training, and then paid employment to these most underprivileged of people. In the six years since People Tree became involved with KTS, the group of knitters and dyers has grown from 15 to over 240.
People use the money they earn to educate their children at the KTS primary school (which People Tree funds 50% of), which is something that they could never have dreamed of previously.
And the effect has spread throughout the entire pode community, with even those who remain as street sweepers becoming more aware of their rights, and starting to charge a proper fee for their service.
One knitter, Laxmi, describes it like this; "People Tree's orders are vital to KTS, to me, my family, my colleagues and grass-roots female producers in my country. Fair Trade orders empower these people socially and economically and mean we can educate ourselves and our children. Knowing this inspires me to work hard. I wish and pray for the success of Fair Trade fashion and People Tree."
For more information on KTS, read Saf's blog - and remember to have a look at the fabulous products in our knitwear range to see their latest work.
