I receive nothing but tragic news from India, and I feel frustrated that I cannot do anything about it.
Many of my friends and colleagues at CALICO are not feeling well. Many people suspected of having COVID-19 are recuperating at home because hospitals are overwhelmed.
As of now, all CALICO staff are safe, but the person in charge of producing plain khadi fabric in a village in northern Bengal and the person in Delhi who supports CALICO's procurement and export operations are seriously injured, and we can only pray for their speedy recovery.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began last year, we created a system for pre-ordering the works of artisans called GAAM NO OTLO, with the aim of continuing production activities. However, this time, for the time being, we would like those involved to stay at home as much as possible. There is no work worth taking the enormous risk of infection.
We would like to consider CALICO's medium to long-term activities and initiatives in India, including GAAM NO OTLO, in the future.
As a way of doing things now, we would like to donate all the proceeds from the sale of Khadi cotton masks * sold online by CALICO during May, or 10% of the proceeds from the sale of Khadi fabric and books , to emergency and reconstruction aid. We will announce the NGOs and other organizations to which we will donate on our website at a later date.
And I sincerely pray that this disaster will end.
*Khadi cotton masks can be sandwiched with non-woven fabric. We recommend wearing two layers of masks.