A Covid-19 message from the Karnor family

Dear friends,

We hope you are all well, and taking increased care during this pandemic. As many of you know, Nepal is in an unclear position as they have said they would reopen all flights starting August 17th earlier, and now it has apparently been postponed to August 31st due to a flare-up of cases in recent weeks. It is a tragic dilemma to face. The pandemic is dangerous but an economic crisis would be also very bad.

In some good news however, Russia is said to have developed the first Covid19 vaccine, and we have neighbouring India aiming for August 15th (Their independence Day) release of their vaccine, so we shall wait and see. All in all, it is good to see some inroads to battling this pandemic that is unprecedented in our lifetimes.

At Karnor, we had another staff meeting recently to reiterate the seriousness of this epidemic to all our staff and workers, and are looking into ways to increasingly limit contact, such as distributing reusable cloth masks to all staff and weavers, mandating its use at all times at work, and planning to have food and produce specially delivered to our weavers. From the beginning of the spread itself, we had already distributed rations to all our weavers, and offered paid partial leave during the initial stages.

Also, to keep our weavers’ community both safe and continuosly employed, we have woven some traditional Tibetan rugs recently, and are selling them at a marked-down price. These times are certainly a test of our mettle, from the heads of states to the workers in all industries and sectors. But we are far from giving up. We at Karnor are ready to prove that it takes more than a virus to break apart our tight-woven community.

Take care, and be safe,

From the Karnor family