Fair Trade from Mahaguthi, Nepal

News | NEED | Godavari

Mahaguthi has offices and a wonderful shop selling their products in Kathmandu, Nepal, but buys from five main regions across the country. This group is the founder member of Fair Trade Group Nepal and has been established for over 22 years. They provide access to market, training and support for more than 100 producers in five main regions. Over 90% of their workforce are women.

Their founder, Tulsi Mehar Shrestha, spent time with Mahatma Gandhi and, as a devotee of his principles, started working with untouchables and low caste women to help them earn a living. The ashram he founded is truly inspirational as it provides skills training in spinning, weaving, dressmaking and blockprinting as well as having a lovely nursery for the workers’ children.

Mahaguthi support all their producers to develop their traditional skills by  advising them on product design and helping them with selling, marketing and skills training.

2006 was a testing time for everyone in Nepal due to both the political struggles and rising costs of raw materials, fuel, transport and labour.  But there is great optimism that since the twelve year long civil war has ended this is the people’s chance for a new beginning.

The artisans at Mahaguthi produce beautiful handmade products with great skill: paper from the lotka plant, clothing, silver jewellery, pottery, mithila painting, bamboo and musical instruments. As over 80% of Nepalis live in villages and rely on agriculture, crafts are a useful source of much needed extra income.

Mahaguthi are just starting to develop fair trade holidays for groups so if you have a group that is interested, please contact Lovethatstuff or Mahaguthi. We can really recommend the people, the countryside, the animals, the food – basically everything.

Mahaguthi rely on income from their trading partners overseas so please look at their products as you will love them. All producers are highly skilled in their particular specialism, making the final product more akin to art than craft.

My June 2007 trip to Mahaguthi, Nepal
by Barbara Wilson

I visited Mahaguthi in June 2007 with my daughter Lily and we had a wonderful time. Our first taste of Nepal was getting a visa at Kathmandu airport. The immigration officers were smiley and friendly and I immediately felt relaxed. Later I learnt that Nepalis are slow to anger and quick to smile, a wonderful and refreshing change in today’s overstressed and time-harried world. What could be nicer than their greeting ‘Namaste’ – I greet the divine within you?

Whilst in Kathmandu we stayed with one of the potters, the delightful Govinda, above his workshop in Thimi, the city’s pottery and farming region. We spent the first three days visiting the ashram in Lalitpur, Kathmandu; the clothing production unit close to the office; and the Mahaguthi office and shop. Our schedule was busy but constantly punctuated by meeting the most engaging people. On Saturday, the traditional day off, we visited Bhaktapur, a region of Kathmandu which has remained virtually unchanged since medieval times.

The Mahaguthi ashram was truly inspirational. Set in seven acres of garden, with wonderful flowers, trees and bushes, and bright-eyed children playing, this seemed an idyllic haven from the hustle and bustle of the main city. Apparently they even grow some of their own rice here. The ashram or ‘shelter’ had areas for spinning cotton, handlooms for weaving, a blockprinting workshop and several sewing classes.

The girls we met in the sewing classes were mainly from rural areas and one we talked to was 19 and came from the west of Nepal. She had one brother and sister and came from an agricultural family. She had stayed at school until ninth grade and then failed this level so had to leave. She told us her family had enough for the basic necessities but she needed to find a skill and that when she had finished her training at the ashram she wanted to go back to her village to train more women to sew. Mahaguthi prefer to employ women as they will ensure their kids go to school and also tend to plan better for the future.

We were surprised how physical the handloom weaving was. The women had to use both hands and both feet but they were as good tempered as ever. As we were leaving we saw some beautiful lengths of cloth laid out to dry in the sun and Sonali, the Marketing Manager, told us this prewashing helps ensure clothes don’t shrink, which is good.

At the clothing production unit we met the very lovely Anita who headed up this workshop. I had brought some new ideas for designs and we were quickly surrounded by eager, capable women with tape measures at the ready. I felt so reassured – all is possible with tea and the right people, and here we had an abundance of both. After thirty minutes four new designs were underway.

For the next six days we did the holiday bit, arranged extremely well by Mahaguthi. First stop was Pokhara, with a three hour pony trek, a walk to the World Peace Pagoda and a dawn visit to Sarankhot to see the sun rise over the Annapurna range. All pretty groovy. Then it was off to Chitwan National Park for fun and frolics with elephants, rhino, crocodiles and birds.

Returning to Kathmandu, it was time to check out the jewellery workshop. Their skills are awesome but we were on a mission to do delicate to try and satisfy a more Western market. We had fun and lots of laughs as we explored new ideas and adapted some of their existing designs. We left with about fifteen earrings and pendants in the pipeline. Blooming good stuff.

Finally, we couldn’t leave Kathmandu without some pottery. They’ve developed some lovely new lines and we couldn’t resist.

What did we like about Nepal? When we left we asked each other what had been the most awe-inspiring – the mountains, the wildlife or the people. It has to be the people. Thank you Mahaguthi. We can’t wait to come back again.

Barb's trip to NEED | see also Godavari