7th December 2014

Winter blanket distribution with Blankadesh

Every year Pebble teams up with a wonderful organisation, Blankedesh, to give out blankets at the beginning of winter.   You would be right in thinking that Bangladesh is a tropical country and the temperature doesn’t drop anywhere near as low as in the UK, Europe or the US, but it does get cold.   It’s a wet cold in Bangladesh because the usual humidity that we all live in, just seems to get very cold and as such even when its 20 degrees Celcius, it feels really cold.   Every year we hear of tragic circumstances where people have died of hypothermia and so its a really important issue.

Image:  Blanket donation to the centres in the Sundarbans

Blankadesh is a wonderful charity.   It was started about 5 years ago by two expat women from Australia who passed it on to an expat from the US when they left.   It works by selling blankets and for every blanket they sell, they will donate one blanket to someone in need.   To buy a blanket costs 500tk (GBP4 or USD6.50).   They are large sized, good quality fleece fabric.    Generally expats and locals in Dhaka will buy the blankets for their house staff or junior office staff or for local slum schools that they may be helping out, and then another blanket is given to a person in need all over the country.   Pebble has a wonderful partnership with Blankedesh, where for every blanket we buy, they give us two – because of course, we are giving them all to people in need.

Image:   Lots of blankets give to women in the new centres in the Sundarbans

This year Pebble bought 100 blankets and we’ve given out 200 blankets with the generous partnership of Blankadesh.

Image:  Liz from Best Years Ltd, the Pebble wholesalers for the UK, giving out blankets in the Sundarbans centres

Image:  Gaynor from Best Years Ltd, the Pebble wholesalers for the UK, with the artisans who have new blankets

Each year we take the blankets to centres which have just been set up in the previous few weeks.    When women start to work with Pebble they have come from very difficult backgrounds and have very little money.     Over the weeks and months that they work with us their economic situation improves as they make products and earn money.   So in the very early days of a centre when training has just finished, these blankets are really very much welcomed.

Image:  Two women with their new blankets

You can see that these women are still in training because the octopus rattle she is holding is made in training colours and not in production colours.   We’re really delighted to work with Blankadesh every year in giving blankets to women and children who really need and appreciate them.

If you would like to donate to Blankadesh then please visit their facebook page or contact us directly and we can connect you.   Its a really wonderful, direct, and much needed way to help.