Cultural Exchange

Some of our regular readers will know that last month, a group of hardy Australian travellers, ranging in age from 50-ish to 79-ish, travelled around some less travelled eastern regions of Nepal to observe the many traditional and less traditional handicrafts that are flourishing there.Among many other things, they delighted in intricate hand painted Maithili murals in Janakpur, saw (and purchased the odd one or five) fabulous traditional dakka weaving in the Himalayan foothills and, in a real highlight, had a polymer clay lesson from the ladies of Samunnat Nepal!  To say this was incredibly, mutually enjoyable would be a huge understatement.The travellers were expertly guided and encouraged so that they created their own unique piece of wearable art.  The ladies of Samunnat could ecstatically add “expert teachers” to the Confidence CVs and strong and generous connections were made across cultures, ages and experiences.The Samunnat ladies had designed and prepared the lesson very thoughtfully and it was well paced and full of laughter and excitement when the travellers realised that they did in fact have some  ”creative bones” in their bodies.They also gained a new respect for the expertise and commitment to quality that the Samunnat ladies demonstrated. Beads were completed and baked, matched with pote (seed) beads, then strung and proudly worn.The travellers were also feted to within an inch of their lives, fed traditional Nepali fare and profusely thanked for carrying clay supplies from Australia.  And, even though she had spent the day keeping us all in line, Kopila could then whip up a culinary feast that we shared at her home with her family.  What a time we had.  Suffice it to say, on our departure, tears were shed!Except for Wendy, the travellers will all be back in Australia by the time you read this.  We hope that their experiences has touched their lives in special ways and thank them for bringing such love and encouragement to ours.Our next few weeks will be very intensive as we have a crash course in a few new designs and techniques and do some marketing in Kathmandu!  After that, the “really hot” weather starts and ouor creative output is somewhat limited.  As they say here, “Jum!” (Let’s go!)