Heaven Hemp

It is a sad day for Nepal today. We have fought a war for many years and then finally the Maoists came to power and we all thought we would see some development in this country. It is time to write a new
constitution for Nepal but we do not see any of the political leaders even trying to do so.

They are still fighting for the chair or the money or just to fight — we do not know, but I just wanted to talk about the impact that it is having on our business.

For many years we have had a difficult time just keeping the small workshop running as we had problems getting the raw material from rural areas and of course the security. Now for a few months we had a bit of peace and we were steadily working. From today we go downhill again. We have constant marches and riots and fights between the political hoodlums. Today we hurriedly sent off one of our shipments as we were thinking we may not be able to send it tomorrow.

This is a shame. Due to the bandhs (forced closures) in the Terai region of Nepal, the main highway (we only have one running east to west of the country from the flatland to the south) have remained closed for many days and we are running out of basic commodities in Kathmandu as everything has to come from outside the valley. The prices of things go up every week, if not twice a week. It is sad that our politicians are still fighting. This I think will only hinder the development of this nation. There are huge queues for petrol or diesel if any of the pumps have received the supply from the govt. The people have no jobs and the Govt. in Nepal does not even seem to notice anything like that. Of course fighting  amongst them takes precedence over everything else.

Things could be so different. We could The whole world is waking up to the wrongs we are doing and seem to at least try to head in the right direction. Nepal is already far ahead in that aspect. Nepal, I think, would fall under the least emission producing countries of the world and we should be proud of that. We could start now; start today to make this country better. We should build hydro power and have different modes of transportation. Maybe localized roads with cable car connections would be a good idea. Maybe the govt. buying buffaloes for everyone and helping them get biogas for cooking from the dung is a good idea. Maybe solar cells on the roofs of houses on the mountains, or wind energy, is a good idea. I wonder why we are not looking beyond the present.

The present unrest is of course is going to have an impact of the natural fibre business of Nepal. Less and less people are working with hemp and in hand weaving in the hills as the making of roads is
creating “jobs” which at the time is more economically viable, but in the long run we are going to lose our art of making textile. We are trying hard to protect this by paying more to keep these people to make textiles, but it is what the market will support that is the problem. Everyone wants things cheaper but it is costing more to make everything. How is it possible to give goods cheaper?

I hope I have given you a real picture of how it is here and what the working conditions are like, as everyone wants to know more. If there are queries, you can write to me and I can give you my thoughts on things here in Nepal.

Take care!!