Fleeing from Tibet at the age of 12 with little schooling and no money, Pema-la Lama struggled to settle herself in to her new country of Nepal.

 A refugee there, she taught herself to read and write in Nepali and learned how to knit and sew, all the while caring for 6 younger siblings and tending to a father dying of cancer.  When Ric and I first met Pema-la in 1984 she lived with her husband Namgyal (also a Tibetan refugee, who fled when he was 1) and their baby daughter, Chimmi in a small room in Kathmandu with no water, bathroom or kitchen. They supported themselves with sales from a small shop where they sold the bags and knitwear that they made by hand…
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