Magnolia Knitted Dress

Handknitted deep v-neck dress with hand embroidered flowers. Designed by Karen Nicol. Made Nepal.

Made by KTS: Kumbeshwar Technical School, Kathmandu

If you’re born to the ‘pode’ caste in Nepal, you are expected to clean the sewers and streets of the areas inhabited by higher castes. In return, you will be paid a pittance – sometimes no more than scraps of left-over food.

The Kumbeshwar Technical School in Kathmandu provides education, vocational training, and then paid employment to these most underprivileged of people. In the six years since People Tree became involved with KTS, the group of knitters and dyers has grown from 15 to over 240.

People use the money they earn to educate their children at the KTS primary school (which People Tree funds 50% of), which is something that they could never have dreamed of previously.

And the effect has spread throughout the entire pode community, with even those who remain as street sweepers becoming more aware of their rights, and starting to charge a proper fee for their service.

>>> Available from People Tree – earn 9% cash back with MoreEco