Written by Laurence Brahm - Published by Hongkong Culture on 09/01/2007

Anu is an elderly Tibetan lady. She lives alone on the upper floor of a traditional Tibetan style courtyard home in the Barkor area of old Lhasa. Life is hard. She was crippled at age four when a tractor ran over her leg, severing it. She grew up disadvantaged, never married and has no children. Her apartment is simple and bare, except for her sewing machine and a Buddhist shrine. To receive water and yak butter, essential for living on the Tibetan plateau, caring friends are required to bring these to Anu each day.

In the winter of 2006, hearing of Anu’s predicament, Shambhala developed a project for Anu to pioneer for herself and other handicapped individuals suffering from similar disadvantages, by creating a line of children’s hand puppets – featuring Tibetan animals – that she could easily make fore a living. Anu initially made 30 puppets. The quickly sold and she received a very positive response. It seemed this project in its vast simplicity could assure not only sustainability for her livelihood, but for other handicapped individuals as well. Shambhala enthused by the beauty of this project also recognized the need for mass expansion involving product design and sewing equipment, so that more handicapped members of the marginalized community can benefit.

Support was sought from the New Zealand Embassy in Beijing, which offered funding enabling Shambhala to establish a comprehensive micro-enterprise for designing puppets, training handicapped individuals in product creation and developing business skills, to create a sustainable social enterprise.

The programme began with an initial two, then six, participants and hopefully will rise to ten by early next year, forming a collective of puppet makers. After New Zealand’s initial donation, the project grew organically. Anu and others joining the commune were able to sustain their future development. Sales of puppets initially sold through Shambhala’s retail outlet and links to shops in Beijing, Shanghai and online. A great boost to sales was given by Montessori Beijing which brought puppets – and their tremendous educational and ecological awareness value – to the attention of parents. Based on critical mass momentum the project is now ready to scale upwards and will empower more women in this collective social enterprise.

Selection of participants places emphasis on marginalized individuals who have low or no income, living in the old heritage section of Lhasa. Priority will be given to those who are handicapped, the reasons being that the programme empowers by giving people a sense of identity, purpose and a sustainable career with income. The programme allows them to keep working and carry on with their traditional lifestyle as part of the composition of the heritage section of old Lhasa.

Physically disabled persons in Tibetan areas find it exceedingly difficult to find sustainable employment. By training a group of handicapped individuals and providing them with marketing and distribution help, Shambhala intends to raise their standards of living significantly. Beneficiaries are marginalized women and those with physical disabilities, who often suffer from discrimination and who have had to take menial jobs to sustain their livelihoods.

The main objectives of the Tibet Children’s Initiative are to provide physically disabled Tibetans with both new skills and steady employment through manufacture and selling handmade hand puppets expressing Tibetans themes, which can be enjoyed by children everywhere.

The Tibet Children’s Initiative intends to achieve the following:

• Raise awareness among international children for environmental issues as expressed through Tibetan animals and their inter-relationship as well as raising awareness of Tibet in general;
• Empowerment of marginalized handicapped men and women and offering them equal opportunity.

The average salary for a crafts person/restaurant worker in Lhasa is approximately RMB300-700 per month. Physically disabled men and women find it difficult to make the average salary in Lhasa and are often unemployed. By employing physically disadvantaged people, Shambhala and the New Zealand government hope to help raise their standard of living.

Shambhala projects work toward eliminating poverty through social enterprise initiatives as the grass roots level using the power of trickle-up economics.

Shambhala was founded in 2005. It is a Hong Kong registered charity with field offices in Beijing and Lhasa. It is a social enterprise committed to promoting and supporting initiatives for ethnic diversity and cultural sustainable development. Shambhala believes the building blocks for sustainable development lie in the cultures of the peoples concerned. They have the right to determine the direction of their own economic development and cultural identity.

Micro-Equity

The concept of Shambhala Micro-equity enterprises differs from Micro-finance as developed by Mohamed Yunus in Bangladesh, in that Shambhala is not a lender but an investor, in the product development training and in provision of sales and distribution network. To date micro-equity enterprise include Mala Bead Breakfast Club, Tibetan Textile Revolution, Save the Tibetan Tiger Carpet, Tibetan Jewellery Revival, and the recent inception of the Tibet Children’s Initiative.

To assure sustainability Shambhala faces the challenge of developing a network to promote the products of Tibetan handicapped. This means a race against time to expand project critical mass while assuring sales can support continued production. It is very important to develop the market, not to assume that it exists which is a reason for failure of many similar organisations that are supporting poverty elimination projects.

This is why Montessori support in Beijing is very important. The puppets can be used for educational purposes, to enhance awareness of environment, respect for disadvantaged knowledge of Tibet ecology, and importance of sustainable development.

In summer 2007, a series of puppets were designed and developed by Montessori Beijing teachers Erin Ragan and Laura Roark who used their vacation time to volunteer time and energy steering the program. Each animal they designed represents a different animal in the Tibetan ecology lifestyle cycle: yak, sheep, mastiff dog, horses, etc. Or in the Tibetan Mythical Pantheon: dragon, snow lion, tiger, garuda etc. Finger puppets will later be developed together with stuffed toys for toddlers to enhance the range and increase critical mass.

Stories about each puppet and the animal’s role in ecology and/or mythic tradition of Tibet are being reproduced in beautiful books that will accompany each set of puppets together with a brief write-up about the individual who made the craft. These wonderful children’s stories books were written and created by Erin and Laura during their stay in Lhasa during the summer. Together they guided handicapped crafts persons encouraging their own creative input and development.

Shambhala takes the position that sustainability can only be assured upon economic foundations requiring market development in parallel with product creativity to establish a platform in the market which can be enhanced with enough critical mass to assure all seasonal income for programme participants. The programme was initiated and has succeeded as an experiment with one handicapped puppet maker. The programme however is limited by the need to develop critical mass and more products which are beyond the capacity of the one individual.

Collective Cooperation Management

New trainees will be given training and product prototypes which they are free to change and develop. They will be given the necessary equipment, such as sewing machines, and Shambhala will assure raw material supplies channels and sales and distribution outlets. The programme will be monitored by the key trainer and the two market development trainers who will work closely with them on product development. Earnings will go to programme participants based on product sales with a small percentage re-invested by Shambhala into ongoing product distribution and marketing costs.

Our Tibet Trip

Text and Photos by Erin Ragan and Laura Roark

24 July - 2 August 2007

This summer two Montessori teachers based in Beijing spent ten days in Lhasa working for the Tibet Children’s Initiative, a project of Shambhala. The purposes of their visit was to design and modify ten prototypes of puppets that will be produced by handicapped Tibetan artisans in order to provide them with sustainable income.

This is their journal.

24 July

Laura I arrived in Lhasa after a long day traveling by air from Beijing. We are greeted by the House of Shambhala driver. We hand him our luggage and begin to take deep slow breaths. Time for us to slow down and slip into the pace of Tibetan life.

We visit the Montessori school. We tour the building and progress of the project, as well as the classrooms full of children reciting lessons in both Tibetan and Chinese.

25 July

We awake rested and ready to begin work. We take off through the winding alleys of Lhasa to purchase materials for our prototype puppets. We find fabric, trim and buttons in short order, then head back to the shop to start sewing up ideas. By mid-afternoon we come up with the Mastiff prototype.

26 July

We go to House of Shambhala shop to work on the Antelope and wolf puppets prototypes. Laura meets a few kids outside playing in the street and invites them in to test out the puppets. It is really cool seeing them have so much fun. When 4:30pm rolls around the Antelope is finished and the wolf is so close to finished that Laura decides to keep sewing while walking ten minutes to the factory. She finishes it just in time.

27 July

Today is the day for Tibetan horse racing. We head west out of Lhasa for the village of Niatang and have lunch at a Tibetan home. After eating we walk to the horse track and find spots on the mountainside to look down at the race. After we return to Lhasa, Laura and I go shopping for art supplies to begin the prototype design for the Celestial animal puppets. We spend the evening researching and drawing the puppets.

28 July

We visit handicapped gentleman and show him our prototypes for the Wolf, Antelope and Mastiff. He likes the puppets and tells us he can make one of each by tomorrow, hopefully making creative and practical changes to the prototype and he works. Laura’s expertise in fashion design is invaluable to this project. She continues to amaze us all with what she comes up with and we could not invest in a sewing machine without her knowledge. It is really exciting when the machine arrives. Everyone helps carry it into the shop. Laura has it up and running and is giving lessons on how to use it.

In the evening I begin making notes for our story ideas for the books that will accompany each set as well as finish the marketing plan. Laura sets to work on the hotel room floor designing the prototype for the Wind Horse puppet.

29 July

A rainy day in Lhasa. We wake up early and although the rain seems to affect our mood we trudge through the wet streets to get an early start on things. Erin gets right to work in the office researching poverty level indicators while I am eager to use the new sewing machine. We get started on the books. By lunchtime we have the first draft. Having the sewing machine makes a huge difference and Yudron and I put the puppet together in couple of hours. Yudron is such a lovely girl and is so much help. Teaching her how to use a sewing machine feels great. Clearly she is creative and eager to learn new skills. We have a great afternoon chatting and laughing over the hammering in the shop.

30 July

Another productive day! I spend the morning editing the first children’s story and Laura designs the Garuda puppet. The prototypes from the gentleman arrive and he has made really nice improvements to the puppets. I help Laura finish the decoration for the Wind Horse and by early evening Laura finishes the Garuda! After dinner we go to the rooftop of our hotel for a spectacular view of the Potala Palace and a thunderstorm rolling in over the mountains.

31 July

We are still debating titles for both books, but it is great to have a solid draft to work with. This is the first time Laura and I have tried to design puppets or write children’s books. It is trial and error, frustrating and rewarding at the same time. Watching Laura and Yudron work in the shop is really sweet. Curious Tibetans wander in to see what they are up to. It must be a rare sight to see an American and a Tibetan woman sewing side by side in Lhasa.

1 August

Laura and Yudron spend the afternoon sewing the Sky Dragon prototype. I know Laura is feeling relief as all the prototypes are close to finished.

2 August

Today we spend the morning at Norbulinka Palace, the summer palace of the Dalai Lamas. After a lunch we meet Rigsang Dorjee Rinpoche, a famous living Buddha from the Thongdrol Samten Ling Monastery is Shigatze.

We have a final meeting with Laurence to discuss production numbers, packaging and pricing. We feel satisfaction with the progress of the project so far. We talk about future projects together.

Our trip to Lhasa has been educational, personally rewarding, exhausting and hull of inspiration. We fly out early tomorrow morning for Beijing, Laura and I will be back soon.

Shambhala is a social enterprise committed to promoting and supporting initiatives for ethnic diversity and cultural sustainable development. For more information go to www.shambhala-action.org

Laurence Brahm is a global activist, international mediator, political columnist and author. He is the leading advocate of a fresh development paradigm - The Himalayan Consensus - an innovative approach to development.

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