The Dougs Say Goodbye and Farewell Pakistan

Traffic was a bit more chaotic than we are used to but we never felt in danger. Our drivers, Ehsan and Yousaf, were safe, careful drivers and courteous to other drivers. Driving on the M2 Motorway between Lahore and Islamabad was smooth, fast and orderly. The M2 in Pakistan put the Pennsylvania Turnpike to shame.

The food was delicious and we ate our way through a wide variety of Pakistani cuisine. Street food in Lahore, Balakot, Kallar Kahar and everywhere else we stopped for a snack was especially good – pakora, jalebi, samosa, shawarma and a host of other delights were all delicious.

The work of Bunyaad in Pakistan is truly impressive. Fair trade at Bunyaad is alive and well. Bunyaad works with over 800 families of rug makers in more than 100 villages. These people range from families that have generations of rug making experience to brand new folks like the young women in training at the Jared Training Center. All of them need to work to properly support themselves and their families. Most do not have viable alternate job opportunities.

Fair trade at Bunyaad
is alive and well.

The relatively new members of Bunyaad in Chistian have been pushed out of the town into a new community that does not have electricity nor safe drinking water. Bunyaad choose to work with these people because they have no other work opportunities. But, they do have rug making skills that make them valuable members of the Bunyaad family. Hopefully, successful rug making will lead to better living conditions and other benefits like good education for children and access to healthcare for everyone. In the future, electricity and safe drinking water should be available to everyone.

We truly can say that
Bunyaad rugs are amongst
the best in Pakistan.

The people who contract with Bunyaad to do wool dyeing and rug washing spoke highly of Bunyaad’s attention to detail, use of top quality raw materials (wool, yarn, dye), pursuit of near perfection in hand made rugs, encouragement of creativity and variety of design and desire to build strong, long-lasting relationships with everyone involved in the rug making process. We truly can say that Bunyaad rugs are amongst the best in Pakistan. As Wajid from the washing operation and Anayat from the dyeing workshop said, Bunyaad uses the best quality raw materials and produces the best quality handmade rugs made in Pakistan today.

When you buy a Bunyaad rug you can be confident that you now own one of the best quality handmade rugs in the world. In addition, you can feel good about the welfare of the people who made your rug in Pakistan. They were paid fairly, they were able to work in a good environment with their family and neighbors, they were able to access good education for their children and they are looking forward to a better future.

We are very grateful to Bunyaad for giving us this wonderful opportunity to meet rug makers in Pakistan. We can’t wait to return so we can visit with our new found friends all over Pakistan.

Thank you for joining us on this journey

We hope you’ve been enjoying the notes, experiences and photos and have been able to follow our adventures so far. In case you have missed any of our posts, here is a link to all of the stories: Read Pakistan Learning Tour

Come and visit us at any of our four year-round stores or at one of our rug events across the US and Canada to see and purchase one of these beautiful and fairly traded rugs for yourself.