From Nepal to Iowa: Felted handicrafts and cheese sold here helps Himalayan country

When a 2015 earthquake struck in Nepal, killing more than 9,000 people, including 19 climbers on Mount Everest, and causing up to $10 billion in damages, Dr. Anil Regmi wanted to help.

A Des Moines-area veterinarian born in Nepal’s capital city of Kathmandu, Regmi wasn’t sure how to contribute.

“If I just donate money, it’s not going to work because of corruption,” Regmi said in an interview with The Gazette. “So then I said ‘Why don’t I just open my own company?’.”

First, he started with yaks, shaggy animals known for carrying heavy loads across the Himalayan mountains.

On a trip back home, Regmi purchased several yaks and found Nepalis who lived in the mountains to care for the animals.

His plan was to use yak milk to make churpi, a hard cheese fermented for a smoky taste. People in the Himalayas eat churpi, but it also is a protein-rich treat for dogs, Regmi said.

The cheese, which looks like small slabs of wood, is sent from the mountains to Kathmandu, where it is stored at Regmi’s childhood home. Once there’s enough for a shipment, it travels by barge and truck to Urbandale, where Regmi packages it as pet dental chews.

The treats are sold at Regmi’s veterinary practice, online at UrbanPetSupply.com and at Hy-Vee and Fareway stores in the Des Moines area, he said.

“I’m not making any money on this,” Regmi said. “Whatever is made is pretty much spent over there.”

In 2020, Regmi decided to invest in Araniko Art & Craft, a small factory in Kathmandu that produces felted products, including slippers, gloves, hats, coasters and decorations.

If you’ve ever bought a felted Christmas tree ornament or garland of colorful felt balls, there’s a good chance it came from Nepal. More than 1 million Nepali people are involved in the handicrafts industry, which made up 20 percent of the country’s exports in 2018, according to WorldBank.org.

Wool felt isn’t woven with thread. Instead, workers at Araniko — mostly women — gather handfuls of colorfully-dyed sheep’s wool and rub it on plastic mats with soap and water until the fibers bind together into a new substance, what we consider wool felt.

Once the wool pieces come together, they go into a machine that’s like a clothes dryer, spinning water out the bottom. The pieces are then dried further in the sun before decorations are sewn on by hand.

Renuka Shrestha, 42, of Kathmandu, has been working as a felter for 15 years.

“In Kathmandu, there are a lot of felting companies,” she said through an interpreter at the Araniko factory on Sept. 7, 2022. “I like this work.”

The factory now has about 15 employees who work from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., but when they have a big order they may have to bring on temporary staff, said Kumar Pariyar, managing director of Araniko.

“In Christmas, the market is more busy,” he said. “These mushrooms go to the USA or Germany. Also Japan.”

He’s referring to colorful toadstools that, once felted and adorned with white spots on their tops, are strung together into festive garlands popular in the United States and Europe.

Regmi sells felted cat caves through his veterinary practice and online.

These hollow domes are some of the larger pieces made at Araniko. They use more than two pounds of wool and a felter must spend about two hours manipulating the wool to get it to bind together into felt.

“When we buy the stuff, they (felters) get a living wage,” Regmi said.

He estimates he’s invested at least $1 million in Nepal since 2015.

Regmi has applied to USAID, a U.S. government program that leads international development and humanitarian efforts to save lives, reduce poverty and strengthen democratic governance. He’d like financial support to buy more yaks to make more churpi.

Regmi thinks by providing a market for Nepali products in Iowa, without as many intermediaries, he’s getting more money back to the workers. For example, Regmi is in Nepal this month, traveling around the mountains to talk with his yak producers.

“Most of my clients, they do know the stuff they buy … they know they are helping the people in Nepal,” he said.

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