By Nina Smith | Executive Director
Dear GlobalGiver,
April 25 was the one year anniversary of the first of Nepal's devastating earthquakes. Over the last few weeks I spent time reflecting upon the challenges of the past year and the incredible outpouring of generosity GoodWeave has experienced.
I remembered how the GoodWeave community responded quickly in those first few days after the earthquake, donating thousands of dollars to enable our team to reach 275 participating factories with emergency assistance like medical aid, food, mattresses and tents for more than 5,000 carpet workers and their families.
I remembered how for months after, generous donors like you continued to help in a variety of ways- from carpet companies that donated a portion of their sales to schools that held fundraisers. You sought to support vulnerable weaving families and former child laborers wherever the need was greatest by contributing to our Nepal Earthquake Relief Fund. As time went on and we shared our plans to help weaving families who had lost their village homes return to stability, you donated to ensure that these weavers could go back to work debt-free and with a strong foundation to protect their children from trafficking.
On behalf of the whole GoodWeave team, thank you. This past year has been extremely difficult, but not without hope. While we narrowed the focus of this fundraising page in recent months, your donations to GlobalGiving early on provided a range of support to weaving communities. Many of you helped us to provide not just immediate relief but also long-term rebuilding support to GoodWeave factories, so that weavers could once again earn incomes and the rug industry could begin to recover. I recently revisited one of the factories that was completely destroyed by the quakes, and you can view our new video here to see how your donation made a difference.
As you know, the months-long border blockade posed major challenges to this project, which now focuses on supporting the rebuilding of homes for 40 weaving families in Sindhupalchowk. Now that the blockade has been lifted, our team is working to complete technical plans for new earthquake-resistant homes. The process is complicated, and a lack of manpower and transportation makes the work even more difficult. However, members of our staff are now visiting each village, and they report that GoodWeave is the only organization providing support to earthquake victims in these communities. We are motivated by the urgency of their situation and will begin construction as soon as the government approves our rebuilding plans.
With the help of a generous grant from GlobalGiving, this project has been fully funded -- but your support is still needed. Please check out our other projects on GlobalGiving to see how you can help GoodWeave to rescue and educate former child laborers and ensure that they have a safe place to stay for years to come.
Although this page is closing, GoodWeave will continue to invest in efforts to stabilize families and the industry -- from paying school fees for vulnerable children to training women in the craft to advocating that Nepal's government do more to stop child labor in its primary export sector. We thank you again for your commitment to supporting GoodWeave’s work and hope you will continue to stay in touch via Facebook, Twitter, or by signing up for our newsletter.
Gratefully,
Nina
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