Peru

The Direct Help Foundation, Tdhf, is a direct aid organization. It began five years ago to support Nepalese children and women that do not have the means to support themselves. Through the foundation basic necessities such as shelter, food, clean clothes, hygiene and education are provided for these people.

Toni Aguilar regularly visited Nepal and each time he was hit by the same images: poor, very poor people, living in the streets of Kathmandu, undernourished children living in cardboard boxes. Upon his return to his home in Barcelona, Spain, he spoke of his uneasiness to a group of people and decided to create a project. The following step was to legalize the initiative: The Direct Help Foundation is recorded in the Generalitat de Catalunya's Registry of Foundations as Nº 1571 and in Nepal with the registration Nº: 33/060/061. After some time Toni settled in Katmandú.

Thus, the birth of the Kumary Houses. Tdhf has created multipurpose spaces in four houses where different social actions are held, besides being a home for those who need it.

All the Children and women reaching the Kumary Houses have had a difficult past. The women all share a sad story: their husbands have died, husbands who have beaten them, and they suddenly become widows of arranged marriages. They suffer a double misfortune because the moral of the Nepalese society does not allow them to rebuild their life with another man. So without studies, culture, money and opportunities they face an uncertain future into which they cannot help but drag their children.

At Kumary House each woman carries out a particular task. One is in charge of the kitchen, another manages cleaning, another does the shopping and another does the accounts, until all the necessary tasks are fulfilled. For their work they receive a proper wage. Getting paid for working is an important aspect of the self empowerment of these women, since many have previously carried out jobs under false pretenses to receive a wage that never arrives.

As in many other countries, there is no social security in Nepal, and so old age represents a threat: social abandonment, poverty, disease and death.

Many of these aged people who a few years ago were productive, continue to be very professional and the holders of many secrets of a trade that gave life to them for so many years.

In the incense project, Tdhf gathers the best craftsmen of Nepal, that even though they are not now profitable for some companies, they are very great masters of trade for the children and thus can earn a salary, transmitting these teachings, so that they can face their last years with happiness and safety, feeling fulfilled and useful to society.

All the incense produced by Tdhf is handmade using both ancient recipes and ancient methods. As you can see from these photos provided by Toni Aguilar, founder of TDHF, the making of this incense is very labor intense and needs many hands to produce. Men and women come together to produce an incredible product whose profits go directly to the needs of the people. This endeavor helps the impoverished people of Nepal work toward becoming self-sufficient. The profits also help subsidize the orphanages, education programs, and meals that are provided by the Kumary Houses.

All the ingredients are chopped by hand into smaller pieces. This is the first step in the getting of the raw materials into powdered form.

After the ingredients are powdered, they are then sifted by hand so that the larger pieces can again be reduced in size. This uniformity is very important for making a uniformly textured dhoop that burns evenly and smoothly.

Once all the ingredients have been cut, powdered, and sifted, now is the time for the mixing to begin. As you can see from this actual work production photo, many hands are needed to blend the dry ingredients and water together.

Once all mixing has taken place, the 'masa' is then kneaded in a fashion very similar to the kneading of bread dough. Again, this produces a very smooth and evenly textured product for the next step of the production; the extraction of the 'masa' into the dhoop sticks.

After all the ingredients have been blended together and the masa kneaded, the next step is to put the rolls of masa into an extruder.

The masa is placed into the hopper of the extruder. The hand wheel is then turned and the result are strings of moist dhoop, similar to the workings of a modern pasta maker.

As the moist dhoop comes out of the extruder it needs to be carefully straightened and placed on boards to slowly dry. In this photo the woman on the left is straightening the dhoop to dry while another woman is kneading a new batch of incense.

The boards of incense are allowed to dry slowly. This, in addition to the frequent turning of the sticks of incense, allow the dhoop to dry evenly and straight.