A good wage for high art

I’m 26 years old and have been knotting carpets for five years. I’ve also learned to master the technique of making very high quality 100-knot carpets, so I now earn more than I did when I started out. I can live well from my earnings. I always put something aside for a rainy day. That means I have a reserve to fall back on when I’m ill or can’t work for some other reason. And I also save so I can send a bit of money to my parents who still live in the countryside. Of course I miss my family. But I have good girlfriends here in the manufacturing centre, so I don’t feel lonely. We all live here on site. I find the living conditions OK, everything I need is here. Above all, I feel safe here, too. The factory owner, a lady, has set up a crèche and a nursery school for the mothers, and she helps out the parents of older children when it comes to paying the school fees. I’d like to work as a carpet knotter for as long as I can. But eventually I really want to go back to my village, because that’s where all my family and relations still live.

Gome, carpet knotter, Kathmandu