Black Yak

8th October 2020 by Unknown

Hat days are here again

We don’t think that 2020 will be forgotten for a long time and we hope that you are all coping with the very many challenges that this year has thrown at us all.

As with everybody else Black Yak is having to do things a little differently this year. Things are taking longer to make and get to us and many of our regular events throughout the year and Christmas Fairs have been cancelled. They are all sadly missed as we do enjoy meeting and chatting with our customers.
However, our web site is very popular and we are finding that many people are shopping early for Christmas.

14th September 2020 by Rupert

September

As with the rest of the world, it seems that Covid is getting worse in Nepal. They have now had 55,329 cases and 360 deaths. The authorities have had to ease some restrictions after the ‘business community and wage earners complained of financial hardship’. I guess that they are having to balance civil unrest with public health just as we are in this country. Now shops can only open on certain days depending upon what they are selling and transport is allowed on the roads with an odd/even number plate system.

14th July 2020 by Rupert

Mud. Glorious mud!

Well, we are back at work in Nepal and taking all the covid-19 safety measures that we can. Temperature taking, sterilising the workplace, hand sanitiser, washing – in fact just about the lot!

Nepal Covid-19

15th May 2020 by Rupert

Back to work?

Well, some people in Nepal are back at work. 42 companies and offices are now allowed to open and we are one of them! We are allowed to have some of our people back in the workshops and office but we have to provide food and lodging for them there. Everybody must stay 1m apart and we have to keep the whole area sanitised. So there was a small ‘relief programme’ at the workshops, a lot of the staff there came back to work and we gave out essential supplies of rice and lentils.

6th May 2020 by Rupert

Sarmila

Meet our wonderful Sarmila Bhele. Sarmila keeps us all straight at our new workshops in the ancient city of Bhaktapur. Bhaktapur is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is about 8 miles east of Kathmandu in Nepal. Sarmila is the leader of a group of about 25 knitters who live in the area and work from home and our new workshops.

Sarmila is 31 years old and is married to Rameshowar and they have an 11 year old son called Aayan. Rameshowar is the owner operator of his own bus in and around Kathmandu. Black Yak pays for Aayan’s schooling in a local school.
We could not operate our new workshop without Sarmila. She goes through the orders that we send over and distributes them, with wool and knitting instructions, to our knitters. She then performs magic and collects all the knitting back in and somehow manages to get it all back to our main unit for sorting, checking and finishing.