Pakistani rugs help flood victims

GOSHEN, Ind. (WANE) - The recent floods in Pakistan displaced thousands of people and one northeast Indiana business is trying to help some of them rebuild their lives.

The Ten Thousand Villages store in downtown Goshen sells fairly traded handcrafts from all over the world, including rugs from Pakistan. The shop is just one of 150 retails stores across the country with the same goal of helping these artisans make a better life for themselves by using the skill sets they already have.

Ten Thousand Villages works with another fair trade organization called Bunyad based in Pakistan which directly works with about 850 families in villages across Pakistan. Bunyad provides the looms and materials, which allows families and women to work from home.

"They set their own schedule," explains Susan Nelson, the educational coordinator for the Goshen store. "They can work as much, as fast, or slow as they want to. No ones telling them you have to have this rug done by a certain time."

The artisans are paid a fair price before the rug is even finished or sold, so they don't have to cut corners, knowing they'll be paid for the quality of the product.

Many of these artisans lost their homes and looms in the recent floods. Bunyad organizers are working to find victims shelter and provide them with the tools they need to get back to what they do best.

"It almost makes me cry to think about what they must be going through and how difficult it is to recover when you have so little to start with," says Nelson who has visited several cities in Pakistan.

While many are donating money to help the victims immediately, Nelson says buying rugs could help them in the long term. And of course, the more you buy, the more they'll have to make.

"All of us would much rather have the dignity of work than to receive charity," said Nelson.

The Goshen store is having an Oriental Rug Event featuring 300 handmade rugs from Pakistan on Oct. 6-9, 2010. Contact the store for more details.