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Fair Trade Makes Every Day Women’s Day

ByBunyaad

Celebrating first rug

Artisans go to the local sweet market and grab their favorite mithai (sweets), maybe hot gulab jamun soaking up the sugary sweet cardamon syrup or to the local jalebi vendor who is busy lifting hot, orange mini funnel-cake-like rounds out of their copper pot of bubbling oil as the jalebi head to their own bath of heavenly syrup.

One woman carries a carafe of chai made with her water buffalo’s milk. Another grabs more tea cups from her home. It’s time to celebrate.

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The Dougs Say Goodbye and Farewell Pakistan

ByBunyaad

Doug and master designerWe enjoyed a great time in Pakistan. Everywhere we went we met friendly, helpful and incredibly hospitable people. It seemed like everyone wanted to shake our hands and give us a hug. On Sunday afternoon, while touring the old Lahore Fort, a number of people wanted their pictures taken with us. Contrary to what we hear and read in the media about Pakistan, it’s a great place to travel – safe, friendly, hospitable and very scenic.

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The Dougs travel from Lahore to Islamabad to Murree

ByBunyaad

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In the morning we left Lahore and drove down the M2 Motorway towards Islamabad. The M2 Motorway between Lahore and Islamabad is a 6 lane divided highway, about 400 km long.

After about 2 hours of driving we stopped at Kallar Kahar, a lake near the Motorway. This is a stop for migratory birds from Siberia and a popular tourist spot for Pakistani people. We saw lots of school students out for the day on paddle boats, riding on the Ferris wheel and on a furry white camel. We took a motorboat ride and stopped to photograph some birds.

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Meeting with WFTO Asian

ByBunyaad

Yousaf is explaining the rug making process to Christine and Elise of WFTO Asia.
This morning Christine Gent and Elise Hawley from the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) Asia office in Chiang Mai, Thailand came to visit us at Bunyaad. Christine and Elise are in Pakistan to visit the one WFTO member in Pakistan (Habitat Integrated Pakistan (HIP)) and to possibly recruit new members.

In the past, Christine has done product design and development work for Ten Thousand Villages in Haiti and Sri Lanka. She contacted us via her Villages connection hoping to find potential new WFTO members in Pakistan. We explained Bunyaad’s work to Christine and Elise and showed them around the building.