HHC has been fortunate to form a partnership with The S.P.I.R.A.L. Foundation, a humanitarian organization active in Vietnam and Nepal.

The S.P.I.R.A.L. Foundation is not-for-profit organization that develops gift items that can be manufactured by rural villagers using local materials and traditional handicraft skills. The organization conducts workshops with villagers to identify suitable items and to teach them to produce acceptable products.

The S.P.I.R.A.L. Foundation pays the villagers to produce these goods and then sells the goods to consumers and retailers in the developed world. Profits from the sales are reinvested in the target communities, either to develop additional income generation projects or in programs like those of HHC.
picture of woman sewing

Recognizing that poverty, malnutrition, and ill-health are closely related, in mid-2002, HHC and The S.P.I.R.A.L. Foundation conducted the first handicraft workshop in Kathmandu for villagers from Tipling and Sherthung. A large number of products are made from recycled materials, helping to enhance ecological awareness in target communities.

Gift items developed during that and subsequent workshops include clothing from Angora rabbit hair wool and other local textiles, dining room and kitchen accessories, pillow cases and blankets, jewelry, and many other beautiful items. These gift items are designed with an awareness of—and a goal of preserving—the traditional handicraft heritage of the Nepalese people.

From June 2002 through December 2004, The S.P.I.R.A.L. Foundation has returned $187,817 to Nepal, supporting income generation through product financing, as well as the Ilam clinic, medical and educational services in the Shertung, Tipling and Lapa villages, workshop training and shipping costs.

Please visit our partners at The S.P.I.R.A.L. Foundation. You may purchase gift items from them that support HHC's programs in Nepal and provide income to numerous villagers. You can see the items available from The S.P.I.R.A.L. Foundation's Nepal program in the "The Gift of Giving Back Nepal" on-line catalog.