Help God Girl Get to Kathmandu

I'm looking for a little help from my friends ... 

Earlier this year I agreed to travel as a writer/reporter to Kathmandu, Nepal with the founder of The Peace Exchange — a Laguna Beach, California-based not-for-profit, Fair Trade organization that is doing remarkable work on the ground there with at-risk women artisans — to spend time with the Nepalese women, hear their stories, and share them with the rest of the world.

Most of the Nepalese women with whom The Peace Exchange works have managed to escape from the inhumane working and living conditions in the city's many notorious brick factories where the women often LIVED with their entire families —including babies and children — where they toiled for hours in earning slave wages amidst deplorable conditions where injury, sickness, and death were commonplace.

The Peace Exchange (www.thepeaceexchange.com ) is working in partnership with several local organizations in Kathmandu to help teach the women marketable new skills — such as jewelry-making, paper-making, and other handicrafts — and secure sustainable employment in the Fair Trade marketplace.

The Nepal project is a new addition to The Peace Exchange, which already has amazing, empowering collaborations under way with at-risk women in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the organization works with seamstresses who craft beautiful textiles into table linens, bags, and other accessories that Fair Trade certified and sold in the global marketplace.

Unfortunately the grant funding I had been counting on to cover my travel expenses has fallen through and rather than abandon the trip and the important work altogether, I'm hoping to find a way to offset my travel expenses so I can make the journey to Nepal as planned and share the stories of our courageous sisters with the rest of the world.

Right now round-trip airfare from LAX to Kathmandu is about $1500, but will go up soon.  An additional $1500 should cover costs of travel, lodging, translator/fixer, and food for the two weeks I'll be on the ground with The Peace Exchange. (UPDATE 3/12: I've just raised my goal by $500 as lodging and transport prices now appear to be higher for the dates we'll be in country than I originally estimated.)

Thank you in advance for taking time out of your day to read about the trip. If you can help with a small donation, I'd be massively grateful. And if you would remember The Peace Exchange and the women in Kathmandu who are changing their lives and the world in your thoughts, prayers, and intentions, we'd be hugely thankful, too.