| Heightened State of Alarm An interview with Marion and Duane Nelson on their support of Asian artisans by Lyrea Crawford Marion Nelson is the owner of Global View, a retail business that provides marketing opportunities for Asian artisans. For more than 20 years, she and her husband, Duane, have journeyed to places such as India and Indonesia to carefully select handcrafted products, and thus help to preserve traditional motifs and excellence of ethnographics and folk art. They recently returned from a buying trip quite saddened at what they saw during their travels. On this trip, the Nelsons flew into New Delhi, and traveled through much of northern India, visiting Dharamsala near the Tibetan border, Udaipur in Rajasthan, Darjeeling in West Bengal, Varanasi (formerly Benares) in Uttar Pradesh, and Rishikesh in Uttaranchal, before going on to the islands of Bali and Lombok in Indonesia. Everywhere they went, they found empty streets, merchants without business, and people who were hungry, frightened and disillusioned with the conduct of the United States. The recent political and social disruption has severely impacted many craftspeople, artisans, small shops and guesthouses in countries that were not even involved in the conflicts. The Nelsons speak of the desert town of Salwas, in Rajasthan, as an example. Rajasthan does not have much for fertile ground for agriculture, and so its semi-nomadic peoples have focused their efforts on textiles, especially the spinning and weaving of flat rugs called dhurries. Dhurries are made from local wool, cotton or gray camel wool. The weavers have formed co-ops and learned about exporting. Some even take credit cards, and they ship their products all over the world. But, human contact is needed for the transactions to happen. Someone must come to set up the shipping and necessary bank accounts. Someone must come and personally choose colors that are pleasing to Western eyes. No sales are being made now because foreigners have been frightened away by the media and U.S. State Department warnings, which lump countries and areas together. Although Rajasthan lies along the Pakistan border, the Nelsons did not feel at all unsafe while they were there, nor at any other point in their trip. They have simply learned to be aware when they travel, use common sense and not go where there is political conflict. All of Indonesia currently falls under the State Department warnings. On previous trips, Marion and Duane had found it difficult to walk down Monkey Forest Road, the main street of shops in the art center of Ubud, Bali. The street had been always crowded with cars, buses and people, but now it is deserted. On the nearby island of Lombok, they went into a shop to find everything covered with dust from the road. No one had cleaned up because no customers were expected. While they were in the shop deciding on what they might purchase, a man came down the street with a cart that had some bags of rice on it. The shopkeeper excused himself and rushed out of the door after the cart. He told the man to save a bag of rice for him, as he had customers in the shop and would soon have a sale. He was so happy because now he would be able to buy food for his family. In Bali and Lombok, years ago most families had a rice paddy, but many of them have been sold so that guesthouses and restaurants could be built. Now that the tourists have stopped coming, the people cannot go back to the rice paddies. As far reaching as the economic impact has been, the discouragement, apprehension and outright fear is even more pervasive. On the island of Lombok, the owner of a small restaurant expressed a comment that the Nelsons heard echoed over and over again during their travels. He said, "We are so afraid. We are a small people. We look at what is happening. Today it is Iraq, then it will be Iran, then Korea. Are we next?" Many people have expressed sadness. They would come up to Marion and Duane and say, "We have looked at America as a place of hope and idealism. We feel disillusioned now. What has happened to your country?" Mr. Fazili is a Kashmiri Muslim shop owner in Darjeeling, India. He sells beautiful embroidery, weavings, paper maché and walnut wood carvings, and he has become a friend to the Nelsons. Marion and Duane were in Darjeeling as President Bush's deadline for declaring war approached. Mr. Fazili became more discouraged with each day, and on the day the war was declared, he embraced Marion and said, "I know you are not wanting this war Marion, but never again will we look at America with respect. This is the end of an era." At one point, the Nelsons were waiting in an airport in Bali, and a television there began showing scenes of the war in Iraq, with the dead charred bodies of children being loaded on a pickup truck. With tears rolling down her face, Marion turned to the man sitting next to her and said, "Forgive us. I deplore what is happening." He replied, "Oh Mother, (a term of respect), these pictures will not make your news. But how we wish we could blow up these pictures, bigger than life, and hang them in your president's bedroom so that he could see he is killing children." Marion notes that it is important to understand that technology has heightened global awareness. Even in the most remote villages, Marion and Duane would find that someone would have a television or an e-mail connection, and that the people were paying close attention to what they were learning of the world situation. Marion is also aware of the frustration felt by many Americans who feel helpless to change the course of events. She suggests that people listen to other than the mainstream media. Go on the internet and look at papers from other countries. Read the editorials. Tune into the World Link Channel Mosaic from the Arab world. Express your opinions. Ask libraries to carry more current worldwide information, and request that school curriculums be broadened to foster the awareness of other cultures. If possible, travel to other countries. Support traditional artisans by purchasing their products. Marion and Duane are accepting financial donations, grants and loans, and they are willing to arrange exchanges of merchandise to support their various personal efforts. They have boxes of donated warm clothing waiting to be shipped to Dharamsala, a refuge for exiled Tibetans in the cold reaches of northern India. Money is needed to ship the clothing, at the rate of about $45 a box. More extensive funding is required to pay for various craft items that were selected during their trip, and to ship large containers of merchandise back to the United States. Because the immediate needs of the people they met were so great, the Nelsons placed deposits on various items, trusting that they would somehow be able to raise the necessary funds for the balances due and the expensive shipping of those items when they returned home. Marion and Duane Nelson may be contacted at (608) 583-5311 or globalv@mhtc.net. Their mailing address is 6593 Clyde Rd., Spring Green, WI 53588. The Nelsons also sponsor the Tibetan Medicine Buddha Healing Center at the same location. Additional information may be found at www.globalview-intl.com. Copyright © 2003 Lyrea Crawford |
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