On this page I will attempt to give you some background as to what we, the people behind Pink Lotus Thangka, are about and how our business and our charity (DCWC Nepal) combine to produce an ethical circle of right livelihood. My name is Gary Collier and along with Sharon Collier, my wife and partner, we set up and developed Pink Lotus Thangka and DCWC Nepal. Both were born and developed from 2002 simultaneously and are inter married by the fact that many of the personnel involved in our business activities in Kathmandu are also involved in our charity activities. |
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Right from the start our ethic was driven by a desire to help those in Nepal struggling in Nepals poor economic climate. Skilled artists and craftsmen were being driven from their trade by financial hardship and many were taking to manual labour abroad. The net result of this was a gradual erosion of skills dating back many centuries. Pink Lotus was developed as a means to support these artisans and to try and preserve this very rich culture by giving them an outlet for their work.
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Many of the Thangka artists we support and work with are from very humble backgrounds and were raised and taught their talents in very poor rural areas. The charity was established to help to develop these areas by providing health and educational facilities for poor children and women in these communities. We established a workshop in Kathmandu called Pink Lotus Dharma Merchandising Company to train and develop skills in those with potential. This enabled us to create products to the standards we required them whilst giving opportunities to those who otherwise would have gone without. |
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Since we started with the charity we have built 11 schools and are in the process of completing a hospital in the village of Raja Bas in the Kavre region of Nepal. We have played a very hands on role in helping to develop the community there. In 2009 we attempted to adopt Manju (the girl in pink below) who was abandoned by her parents as a baby and was being looked after by her 75 year old grandmother who is desperately poor and struggling to cope. Unfortunately however due to excessive red tape and extortionate costs we had to abandoned the idea. We instead set Manju up in a boarding |
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school in Kathmandu and will give her all she needs to get the best education she can get. It got even better when a friend of ours who has children at the same school took Manju in as part of the family. We also plan to do the same for Buddha and Ranju (seen also in the picture) at some stage in the future. Also we do whatever we can to help the wonderful work done by Jan Salter, an English lady who runs the KAT centre (Kathmandu Animal Treatment Centre). Due to the demands of our own charity we haven't done anywhere near as much for them as we would have liked but we will put that right in time.
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Since 2005 we created a shop in St-Annes-on-sea, Lancashire which serves as an environment for our customers to visit and see our products. This also serves as the home and a base for DCWC Nepal. From Pink Lotus we also run Buddhist classes for the local community. Our classes follow the FPMT Discovering Buddhism course and we are very fortunate to have as our teacher, Ondy Willson the lovely partner of legendary Thangka artist, Andy Weber.
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We believe that Buddhism is a working practice, and try to apply all we do with mindfulness, selflessness, humility and compassion. If you're ever in the area please feel free to visit. The kettles always on and you will be made to feel very welcome.
Kindest Regards
Gary (Collier) |
