From a farmer life in Nepal to a loom in north India

Dolly Devi is from the countryside in Nepal, her family supported themselves as farmers and she have never went to school. Her family consisted of her parents, brothers and one sister. In the age of around 15 she started to have trouble with her hands, she loosed touch and they also got stiff. Leprosy. Her father send her to some relatives in Punjab, India, were she was given some treatment for about six months. From there her family and relatives arranged a marriage with a man who also hade leprosy. The man lived and worked at KKM in Dheradun so she also moved to KKM.

Since then, for about 30 years ago, she have been working and living at KKM. The first year she worked with the first steps to make the yarn from cotton. After that she was tought to weave on the loom and have been working with that since then. She had no working experience expect working on the familys farm so this was totally new for her and she learnt the new job step by step.

Lilian and Dolly Devi at KKM.

- I liked the place immediatly when I came, she says.

She and her husband got three children, two daughters and one son, which all have moved out now. One of the daughters are married, the son is studying. They come to visit sometimes. Dolly does not remember how long time ago she got married and moved to KKM but it must be almost 30 years soon she says beacuse she have a daughter that is around 27 years old.

An ordinary day Dolly Devi gets up and prepare breakfast which is often chai (tea) and bread. After that she starts to work, in the summertime 7.30 am to 11.30 and then a lunch break to 1.30 pm and ends the day at 17.00 pm. On the wintertime the working schedual are from 8.00 am to 11.30 with a lunch break then from 1.00 pm to 4.30 pm. The lunch is prepared by themselves in the home. They work full days monday to friday and half day on saturday.

- I am happy here and that we get everything that is necessary, house, food, a work, the childrens school fees and some pocket money, says Dolly.

I ask her if there is any improvements she would like to see in the colony and if she see herself stay there also in the future.

- No, what would that be, my loom is were it is and I can not move it, she says laughing but in a sense of confussion by what I mean. Loss in translation or just satisfied, that I can not judge.

-And Where else would I go?, She says smiling to the question if she see herself stay in the colony.

Text by: Lilian Sahlin Translation by: Noel Das Photos by: Youdon Tsering

- I wanted to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama so much!

Lobsang Dolma, one of the artisans at Deykiling handicraft center.

- I wanted to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama so much, that was the main reason to come to India states Lobsang Dolma, artisan at Deykiling handicraft center, with a smile on her face.

She grew up in Bawa, in the Kham region in Tibet, with her mum and dad and four of her five brothers. One of her elderly brothers have already fled to India. Lobsang had no schooling and worked with the animals belonged to her family.
- We had yaks, cows, and sheeps, she says.
Her family also sold caterpillar fungus. That is used in traditional medecine and is of high religious value to the Tibetans and if they are sick the boil it and drink. Her parents still work even though they reached a high age.

The smile disappear from her face when she talk about her escape from Tibet to India. She fled from Tibet 1992 in the age of 20, over the mountains to Nepal by foot, and at that time she had in her mind that she will go to India to meet Dalai Lama but then return to Tibet after some while. The reality became different.

- There is no vehicles you can take there, she says when I ask her the quiet stupid question how they were transported during her escape.
The journey from the capital of Tibet, Lhasa, took about one month. One month with walking during the nights and hiding ans sleeping during the days.

The first time she reached the Nepalese border they got caught of Chinese military and with a big disappointment they were sent back to Lhasa. She tried a second time, she was in a group of 80 to 90 people which she did not knew anyone since before, one man guided the group and helped many refugees cross the borders from Tibet. He was given 800 Chinese yang, about 4800 INR. The money was provided by her parents and it was a big amount for them.

The journey was hard and they also had to cross several watercourses which sometimes reached up to her chin. She also tells about the fear of getting left behind the group so she tried to stay awake and alert. On the second try for Lobsang to pass the Nepalese border she was lucky and got thru.

One precious memory Lobsang have is when she had reached to Nepal and got proper food and tasted so good. During their walk they had not been able to eat properly which made the food in Nepal even taste better.

In Nepal she got help from Tibetan reception center which helped her with a ticket to Delhi and from there to Dharamsala. She was put in a school in Himachel were she studied nine months. She dropped out of school when she talked to a women she got to know said it was no use to study and that she did better use by working.
- I now regret that I did not stay longer, we learned Tibetan, English and mathematics, Lobsang remembers and says that she feels bad when she is not able to speak English which she see as a very important language so she could have communicate with people from all over the world.
Lobsang can read and write a little bit in Tibetan.
- And I can write my name in English, she says laughing.


The weaving hall in Deykiling handicraft center.

Lobsang started to work for Deykiling handicraft center because she had some relatives in Dharamsala that knew about the place. Lobsang did not know how to weave but was taught at the center. Lobsang is now 39 years old and have now three children, in the ages of 7, 9 and 16. All of them are living and studying and boarding schools in Moussorie. They come home for holidays and sometimes she goes there to visit them. Lobsang is divorced, her husband left and does not have any contact with her nor her children. One of Lobsangs younger brothers came three years after her. Her younger brother went to a monastery and became a monk but had a hard time with the studying so he quit and now lives with Lobsang.

She works at the center all year around but also weave at her home to a person that sell Tibetan aprons. She starts to work at 5 am at home and work for two hours, after that her ordinary job at the center begins at 8 am and ends at 5 pm. She says that her monthly wage is about 700 to 800 INR a month but varies a bit due to that the wage is paid per piece rate. The wage has been increasing but it is still hard to get around sometimes she says.
- Sometimes I have to borrow money from friends but I pay back the next salary, she says.
The extra income she gets from the weaving from her home gives around 700 INR, but it takes about three months to finish an order.

She remembers that the maternity leave was one month and she was the last time, for seven years ago, given 150 INR for that period. According to the manager, Kalsang Wangdu has that sum now increased to about 300 to 500 INR. Lobsang eldest sons school fees and school uniform is paid by sponsors from foreign individuals and organizations through the handicraft center. For the two youngest the school is free. Lobsang thinks that the working environment is good. They have free access to filtered water during the whole day, get tea two times per day, have spacious rooms and fans in all the rooms. When I ask if the work is stressful then I get the answer
- Sometimes it can be a little bit stressful, when we have many orders, but mostelly the pace is good, Lobsang says.

I ask if she feel that she have influence in her workplace and if they have meetings were they talk about their work. The artisans have a meeting once a year but she have not had anything to say on those meeting.
- I do not know what I would say on them, I can not come up with anything, she says laughing.

Lobsang want to study more English to be able to speak to foreigners and Tibetan because “that is a must” for all Tibetans, but have to work and support herself and her children.
-There is a possibility that I can study after the work but then I am so tired so I prepare food and then sleeps, and I am also too old to learn, she says.

She want to return to Tibet but that is complicated in many ways. She explains that she does not want to leave her three children with a risk to not be able to come back and be with them again.
- The life is better in India compared to Tibet and it also costs allot of money to go back to Tibet. In Tibet we lived in the same house as the animals, but one stair up. In India it is not like that, here it is very clean, Lobsang claims.
- I think my life also is better in many ways here in India, for example there are no freedom of speech in Tibet, Lobsang says.


Lobsang the weaving hall of DHC.

And if she fulfilled her wish to meet H.H. Dalai Lama?
Yes she did, 1993, in Dharamsala. Her courius and lively face rays when she talks about the experience.
- He asked me where I was from and said that I should study hard, she says smiling without hiding any of her enthusiasm and dedication for him.

Text and photos by Lilian and translation from Tibetan to English by Youdon

- I think it is mostly to Germany, France and Italy....

Mukesh Lal working on the loom. Picture by: Lilian

- I was working out on the field in my village where I lived and worked with agriculture with my family, and my arm started to swell. I went to see a doctor, he did not say anything about what was wrong, but he suspected leprosy. Then I started to have problems and lose touch in my right hand. Then I came here to get a proper investigation and found out that I had leprosy, that is how the story started about how 26 year old Mukesh Lal ended up at Brahmapuri leprosy colony.


Dondhup Dolma that works for IM-SOIR taking pictures of all the elderly people that getting old age support and Mukesh with his youngest daughter.

Mukesh have stayed in the colony now for ten years, is married and have two daughters one of whom attend school in Rishikesh about four kilometers away. The second one is only two years and stays at home. It is only Mukesh right hand that is affected of the leprosy. His wife do not have leprosy but has a skin disease, leukodermi. She have been living with Mukesh in the colony for six years. Mukesh came to the colony by his own choice, after seven years of schooling in his home village, Theri. He knew the colony because his grandfather, that now have passed away, lived here before but had already returned to the village in Tehri when Mukesh got here. The benefits of living in the leprosy colony is that he is getting medicine regularly, and there is a safety and security in that he knows if he would be worse and they will take care of him and for him to hospital. Of course he adds, that it also a good opportunity to get a occupation and a shelter.

- I am feeling much better now and also got back some sensibility in my hand, he claims.

A typical day Mukesh get up at 6 am and help his oldest daughter with her homework before school. There are three school children who attend a school in Rishikesh from Bramapuri leprosy colony, none of them have the disease. The parents share the responsibility to get the children to school. The school is a governmental school which is about 30 minutes away on motorcycle. The school fees is 10 INR a month that is paid by the families. After the children have been sent to school Mukesh starts to work. He is working with a little bit of everything in the colony, dying the wool and cotton, working with the loom, wash the cotton and wool and packing the finished products and more. After looking at Mukesh in his work you can also notice that he is a helper in that sense that if anyone of the others have any trouble he is there to help them out.


Mukesh Lal helping a older working colleague that got some trouble with the loom.

Mukesh finish his work about 7 pm working, he says, or latest by 7.30 pm . He works everyday except Sunday. His spare time he cleans the house and perform other households chores, find and collect firewood and of course taking care of his two daughters. He have a postive attitude and infectious laugh.


Food distribution that occurs once a month in the colony.

Mukesh earns around 700 INR a month and his wife earns around 650 INR a month. But then they also get the housing, water and electricity from the colony. Also the food is provided by the colony and is rationed once a month. Mukesh have learned the occupation during his years at the colony and did not know the occupation before he moved to the colony. When I asked if there is any improvements he would like to see in the colony connected to the work or his private life he smiles.

- We all have dreams but they will not be fulfilled, he says.

I insist that I want to know them anyway.

- I wish that my children had a school closer to our home because it is difficult to travel there during the monsoon period when the roads gets very bad, he answers after a little thoughtfulness.

Another part that he see as significant is that they need toilets in the colony.

- The lack of accessible toilets are a major problem, we go out in the jungle, so it would be good if we could get that!

When Brahmapuri was built is was situated quite far away from the city and other human settlements but now it is coming closer and closer to the colony. Right now a major road and a bridge over Ganga is being built, and it already exist a big road above the colony. This means that the places to go to do their toilet chores is decreased. He also states a wish to have a resource person who takes care of the elderly. As it is now and the younger and those who are capable assist the ones that need help, such as shopping and collect firewood, but it is not always they have the time needed which has been increased when there becoming more and more elderly people in the colony who needs more help.When I ask about who the consumers mostly is then he is nt completelly sure but says that he knows that they export al alot.

- I think it is mostly to Germany, France and Italy, he says smiling but with a sense of doubt in his voice.

Text and photos by Lilian

IMEX

Today we have been at IMEX, a carpet weaving organization at Shanti Niwas. IMEX was founded in 1976 by IM-SOIR. The purpose of the organization was and still are to to provide employment opportunities to unemployed women and people living below the poverty line in the locality especially women. They produced hand-made carpets made of woolen yarn bought from the local supplier.

Kalsang Dolkar is working on the administration for IMEX that is situated at IM-SOIR´s office and have participated in work-shops and got information about fair-trade but the weave master and the artisans have not participated in any work-shop or got any special information about fair trade so far. The organization does not have any kind of child labor. If needed, IM-SOIR provides training and skill improvements for the artisans. The main market is export to IM Sweden but they also have some export to other countries such as Germany, England and USA and also have local individual buyers. The producer organization export their products through IMEX to IM-SOIR Sweden.

The artisans have certain benefits working for IMEX, some of them are provided by IM-SOIR and some by IMEX. Lunch, school fees for the artisans children, school uniforms, partly paid college fees for the artisans children, fully paid medical treatment in case of sickness, a social security scheme (partly paid by artisans themselves and partly by IM-SOIR) and also gratuity that increases with the amount of years worked at IMEX is provided by IM-SOIR. IMEX support the artisans by a traveling allowance every day they attend to work, a bonus for the weavers and the trimmers according to the productivity.

We interviewed the weave master, Ved Prakash and two of the artisans, Tsering Lhamo and Lobsang Chodon. Lilian asked the questions and Youdon translated. We will maybe come up with more interviews from this place because we have the fortune to have them so close and are able to take part of their work.


Ved Prakash is IMEX weaving master that provides a carpet design through a photo from consumers that he sketches down on a big graph that the artisans can finalize in to a carpet. His work is also to provide the artisans with yarn and correct if he sees any mistakes that have been made in the weaving. There is 13 Tibetan women employees at IMEX and three trimmers. Ved Prakash tells us that he provided training for one of the employes that previously had another work. When we ask about the age of the artisans then an intense discussion starts in the weaving hall from the artisans, the finally come to that the youngest one in the weaving section is 37 years and the oldest is 63 years old in the weaving section.

Ved Prakash opinion about the working environment is that its good, if any improvements have to be made that would be a fan that have been asked for by some of the artisans. He show us the roof made of …. that lets the sun shine right trough. He says that the work can be stressful sometimes but that all depend upon how many orders the got at the moment. The artisans do not have any safe equipment but he doesn't see the need for it because the lack of occupational risks except that the artisans can get some aching in shoulders and arms.
When Ved Prakash is getting the question how he sees the future for the organization then he smiles and says
- Very good!


We sat down beside the weaver Tsering Lhamo. She started with saying on Tibetan that she is not able to say anything but agrees on participating in an interview when Tsering Youdon said that she will translate from English. Tsering Lhamo is 60 years old and does not know when she started work for IMEX.
- It is now for many many years, she says.

When she gets the question If she got any training provided from IMEX the answer is no because she already knew the work before she started so therefore it was not needed. She works from eight a clock in the morning until five a clock in the evening. When we ask if she got any benefits from working for IMEX she says no but when the questions is specified she tell us that she gets lunch, all medical treatment in the case of getting sick, a bank account for saving were a amount of 250 rupies is provided from her and the same amount from IM-SOIR. She get paid per piece and the time for weaving one carpet is depends on the design and the size. There is one thing she would like to see improve in the working environment.
- I would like a fan because it is hot in here, she says.


Lobsang Chodon is 40 years and have worked for IMEX sense 1993 or 1994, she says. She lives with her husband and children in Rajpur, close to work. She gets up five a clock in the morning and are at work at around 6 am and finish her work day at 5 pm after which she will make dinner for her family. She moved to Rajpur from Arunachal Pradesh, were she grew up. A friend that she met in Rajpur worked at IMEX and told her about a job vacancy.
- It is a god job, you should apply for it she said, Lobsang explains.
- She told me, she says in Tibetan, laughs and points at another weaver sitting close to her.
She worked previously with carpet weaving so no training was needed when she started. Lobsang Chodon is waving with a piece of paper in front of her face during our talk.
- I´m sweating, she says laughing.

Lobsang Chodon have four children at the age of 11,18,22 and 24 of which two still are in school and one is in the army, that gives some support to the family income. She gets paid by piece rate and the salary is about 2000-3000 INR per month. Her husband was previously in the army but has now retired. All the childrens school fees is paid by IM-SOIR. When she gets questions concerning the work environment then she does not understand the question and Tsering Youdon gives examples like if the light is sufficient, temperature is good, if they have the brakes and facilities needed and so on she says yes.
- Everything is good!

Concerning if there is any occupational risks connected with the work she says that there is not anything like that, but after a little bit thinking she says that it is hard sometimes for her to sit for a long time because of a knee problem which bothers her. When the time is ticking some minutes past twelve she is turning a bit smiling and we can see that we are now alone in the weaving hall, and says that she would like to go for lunch which the artisans get by IM-SOIR in a dining hall right behind the weaving hall.

Written by Lilian