This time in 2007

In April 2007 the budding Norlha team was back from Nepal, our looms and equipment had arrived, transported by truck from Kathmandu to Lhasa, then up to Goldmund highway that crosses the plateau from South to North. Sonam Dolma had accompanied our precious cargo on this three day journey, trying to keep the truck driver awake and turning a blind eye on the bellied up trucks strewn all along the way.

Bulldozers were flattening the land where the workshop was to be built, the bottom of a hill dotted with the ruins of several houses. The land was cleared of obstacles, walls went up, Our to be employees washed the looms, which were second hand, in the stream. Tents went up on the plain beyond the road; one for weaving, for spinning, a kitchen tent and an office tent.

Norlha’s first months were spent in those tents, where Norlha’s first employees learned to spin, load, weave and finish our first pieces. On sunny days we ate outside on the pasture, and on cold ones, huddled in the kitchen and work tents. We had a literacy course taught by Jampa, water fights, and our first picnic. When autumn came creeping in, there were snowball fights. Meanwhile the workshop came up in stages, ready for the move at the beginning of winter.