Bunyaad Learning Trip – Before Departure
On November 10, Doug Horst and I (Doug Dirks), from the Bunyaad office at Ten Thousand Villages in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, will fly to Pakistan to visit rug makers and learn about rug making. We will join Yousaf Chaman who traveled to Pakistan a week earlier.
We are very much looking forward to this two week trip because we will meet rug makers and their families in their homes, right where Bunyaad rugs are created. This will help us to better understand how rugs are made, who makes them and under what circumstances they are made. We’ll get to visit and stay in rug making villages so we can soak up local culture and enjoy wonderful village hospitality. The food will be delicious and the conversations will be delightful.
We hope to learn a lot more about wool, spinning, yarn, natural and synthetic dyes, looms and rug knotting. Along the way, we will meet rug makers and their families and learn about their joys, concerns, challenges and hopes for the future.
We’re eager to visit some of the schools that Bunyaad has helped to establish, meet students and hear about their aspirations.
In Lahore we’ll stay with Yousaf’s family and learn more about how rugs are finished and prepared for export to North America. Maybe we’ll even be able to try our hand at trimming, washing and stretching rugs. Of course, all of our clumsy mistakes will be corrected before any rugs are approved for shipment.
Since Lahore is one of the most important cultural and historic centers of Pakistan, we’ll also visit historic sites and experience some of the cultural highlights.
Stay tuned for Doug’s next trip post
We’ll be keeping notes, recording our experiences and taking photos so that you can follow our adventures on the Bunyaad blog. We’ll come back from Pakistan with new friends, memorable experiences, tons of rug making knowledge and lots of new stories to tell.
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On Sunday morning we walked across the street to attend church at St. John’s Baptist Church. Chaman Masih, the founder of Bunyaad, is the founding and lead pastor. We met the associate Pastor, George Gil, as well. During the service Doug Horst and I (Doug Dirks) were introduced as guests from the USA and asked to say a few words. After church we got together with a few people at the Chaman home to visit. We ended talking about our religious origins and beliefs – interesting stuff. 
Nothing tops sitting face to face with someone and getting to know them over a cup of tea. Three of our staffers (Jenni, Heike and Yousaf) along with Ten Thousand Villages Canada Rug Program Manager and Winnipeg store manager Gwen Repeta are currently traveling throughout Pakistan, meeting with rug artisans and seeing the fair trade difference in action. Where do we start first?
When you come to any of our rug rooms and during all of our rug events across the US and Canada you get a glimpse into the world of rug making and see the artisans at work in the video
Have a wonderful trip, I look forward to future blog posts! 😀
Tried to sign up for the trip posts but no luck. Nothing happens when I click the “sign up” tab.
Tricia,
thanks for bringing this to our attention. I am very sorry about this and am looking into fixing it. I have added you manually to the list for now to make sure you will not miss the next blog post.
The sign-up button to receive updates from the Pakistan Learning Trip is now working. Thanks again Tricia for alerting us.
Hi Doug Dirks!
I will follow your trip with great interest! I have such good memories of our trip to Lahore and some Punjabi villages thanks to you. It is because of that trip that I now host a rug event.
Have a good trip!
J
Hi Jane, Good to hear from you. This will be my first time back to Pakistan since 1998 so I’m eager to see what has changed. Hope to learn a lot too from the rug makers and Bunyaad staff.