workshop on the roof of the world

The Norlha Workshop provides jobs for sixty otherwise unemployed nomads who had sold their herds and would otherwise have to seek employment in nearby towns.

The Norlha Workshop was built in traditional style, with dry stone walls and wooden pillars and beams.

It provides a light, warm environment where weavers and spinners can work throughout the year.

Spinning and weaving is a traditional activity among nomads. Lately, with the declining number of nomads and the availability of market products, it was beginning to wane.

Norlha has revived the trend and found that most of the local nomad women either already knew how to spin and weave or could be quickly trained to do so.

90 percent of Norlha’s employees are illiterate. Those men and women who wish to study may join the early morning Tibetan classes provided by Norlha. Today we have 15 young men and women reading and writing for the first time in their lives

All nomad children must attend school. Some six-year-olds have to walk up to five kilometers every day, even during the icy winters, to spend the day in a building with no heating. The school provides no food and often children go hungry during lunch break.

Every summer Norlha holds a picnic as is customary in Nomadic life. The picnic comprises of races, games, feasts and laughter.