Kailash Blades
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2015
- Messages
- 1,028
Hey there all, I know a lot of you are wanting to keep up with the state of operations at Kailash and what's been going on in Nepal with covid so figured an update was in order.
On the 23rd March, in an attempt to suppress the spread of Coronavirus the Government of Nepal initiated a lockdown of the country which included both heavy travel restrictions/border closures and work stoppages. These restrictions caused a lot of production issues but the first wave was eventually beaten back and in remission. Our staff were able to return to Kathmandu and we were able to all but eliminate order backlogs and get back to our usual excellent workshop function. With this decline in cases, so came a full easing of restrictions and with it an influx of undiagnosed cases from rural areas back into the city. On the 20th of August the government reinstated a full lockdown but cases have been climbing steadily every since and are currently at a record high.
These Case numbers in Nepal are low compared to the rest of the world, but Nepal's pre existing healthcare issues leave them vulnerable to a much higher death rate. A weak public healthcare system, limited government funding and a large urban and rural poor with sub standard sanitation combine to create a situation where widespread growth could be accelerated and hospitals that could quickly be overrun. As a result the initial action from the government of Nepal so far has been proactive and very strong, shutting down industry and fully restricting travel. While this has proven effective at curbing growth, the lack of financial support to its citizens has led to a yoyo-ing of cases as people rush back to work, market and support themselves whenever restrictions allow. Despite the current record cases, restrictions have been lifting gradually over the last month. It remains to be seen whether this will have a negative effect on the case count, but for the timebeing it has allowed us to return to a much more normal level of operation.
Workshop restrictions: Unlike the last lockdown all of our staff are in Kathmandu and restrictions actually allow a full staffing for how large our workspace is with basic precautions. As a result we’ve managed to wrangle our wait time down to 6-8 weeks, though there is a likelihood that this may be tightened or restricted in future.
Shipping issues: During this lockdown shipping has been slowly opening up more and more. Right now freight is available on a regular basis- even for western blades and very large khukuri. This is the first time that this has been possible since the onset of Covid in Nepal and helps make our order timelines a lot more accurate. This again could potentially be tightened in future but we still should be able to keep on top of our traditional blade orders.
Materials shortages: In the last lockdown the long closure of both air and land freight had us running low on some basic items such as glue and grinding wheels. Nepal’s markets have had a chance to breathe in between the last waves and we’ve been able to stock up on everything we need for the next few months. With the way shipping restrictions are continuing to ease this is looking like it will be a non issue for the foreseeable future.
Now for the not so good news- Last week Kailash Blades was visited by a member of the public who has since tested covid positive. Currently nobody on our team is showing any symptoms, but in order to prevent any further spread and to best ensure the health of our team and their families we’ll be shutting down the workshop for two weeks so everyone can get tested, self isolate and await full results.
By that point it will also be the beginning of the festival season in Nepal, a time when a lot of amazing cultural events occur including Dashain, the most significant festival of the year. The whole country more or less shuts down, with no post and very little shops open for this 2 week long festival (Oct 26-Nov 11). People visit their families, return to their villages, sacrifice animals as offerings to the gods and feast. In the leadup to Dashain, communities will make a giant swing out of logs so children and the young at heart can play. Next up is Tihar or Diwali (Oct 13th-16th), a week long festival where animals are given their own days to be worshipped and thanked, including dogs, crows, cows and all animals that maintain an intimate and divine connection with humanity. It also involves the lighting of many, many candles which makes for beautiful streets at night time.
It’s not clear how many of these traditions will be able to be observed in their usual full splendour due to covid, but hopefully the nepalese people can find a balance between joviality and safety. During this time our workshop will remain closed, adding another 2 weeks of delays to orders and we also may not be able to respond to emails as promptly but should be able to get on top of them every week or so.
Currently we’re suggesting a wait time of approximately 9-13 weeks from the date of having placed the order, depending on the outcome of this recent covid exposure and the ongoing decision making of the government.
It’s very important to the livelihoods of our staff and our community that we continue taking orders and operating normally as possible, but we’ll need the support and understanding of our customers.
All in all we’re in a better position than last time to deal with this lockdown and have made great progress beating back the multi month wait times we were facing earlier in the year. This current covid exposure has introduced a new level of uncertainty to things however we’ll be keeping you updated as the situation progresses.
Thanks and take care,
The Team at Kailash Blades
On the 23rd March, in an attempt to suppress the spread of Coronavirus the Government of Nepal initiated a lockdown of the country which included both heavy travel restrictions/border closures and work stoppages. These restrictions caused a lot of production issues but the first wave was eventually beaten back and in remission. Our staff were able to return to Kathmandu and we were able to all but eliminate order backlogs and get back to our usual excellent workshop function. With this decline in cases, so came a full easing of restrictions and with it an influx of undiagnosed cases from rural areas back into the city. On the 20th of August the government reinstated a full lockdown but cases have been climbing steadily every since and are currently at a record high.
These Case numbers in Nepal are low compared to the rest of the world, but Nepal's pre existing healthcare issues leave them vulnerable to a much higher death rate. A weak public healthcare system, limited government funding and a large urban and rural poor with sub standard sanitation combine to create a situation where widespread growth could be accelerated and hospitals that could quickly be overrun. As a result the initial action from the government of Nepal so far has been proactive and very strong, shutting down industry and fully restricting travel. While this has proven effective at curbing growth, the lack of financial support to its citizens has led to a yoyo-ing of cases as people rush back to work, market and support themselves whenever restrictions allow. Despite the current record cases, restrictions have been lifting gradually over the last month. It remains to be seen whether this will have a negative effect on the case count, but for the timebeing it has allowed us to return to a much more normal level of operation.
Workshop restrictions: Unlike the last lockdown all of our staff are in Kathmandu and restrictions actually allow a full staffing for how large our workspace is with basic precautions. As a result we’ve managed to wrangle our wait time down to 6-8 weeks, though there is a likelihood that this may be tightened or restricted in future.
Shipping issues: During this lockdown shipping has been slowly opening up more and more. Right now freight is available on a regular basis- even for western blades and very large khukuri. This is the first time that this has been possible since the onset of Covid in Nepal and helps make our order timelines a lot more accurate. This again could potentially be tightened in future but we still should be able to keep on top of our traditional blade orders.
Materials shortages: In the last lockdown the long closure of both air and land freight had us running low on some basic items such as glue and grinding wheels. Nepal’s markets have had a chance to breathe in between the last waves and we’ve been able to stock up on everything we need for the next few months. With the way shipping restrictions are continuing to ease this is looking like it will be a non issue for the foreseeable future.
Now for the not so good news- Last week Kailash Blades was visited by a member of the public who has since tested covid positive. Currently nobody on our team is showing any symptoms, but in order to prevent any further spread and to best ensure the health of our team and their families we’ll be shutting down the workshop for two weeks so everyone can get tested, self isolate and await full results.
By that point it will also be the beginning of the festival season in Nepal, a time when a lot of amazing cultural events occur including Dashain, the most significant festival of the year. The whole country more or less shuts down, with no post and very little shops open for this 2 week long festival (Oct 26-Nov 11). People visit their families, return to their villages, sacrifice animals as offerings to the gods and feast. In the leadup to Dashain, communities will make a giant swing out of logs so children and the young at heart can play. Next up is Tihar or Diwali (Oct 13th-16th), a week long festival where animals are given their own days to be worshipped and thanked, including dogs, crows, cows and all animals that maintain an intimate and divine connection with humanity. It also involves the lighting of many, many candles which makes for beautiful streets at night time.
It’s not clear how many of these traditions will be able to be observed in their usual full splendour due to covid, but hopefully the nepalese people can find a balance between joviality and safety. During this time our workshop will remain closed, adding another 2 weeks of delays to orders and we also may not be able to respond to emails as promptly but should be able to get on top of them every week or so.
Currently we’re suggesting a wait time of approximately 9-13 weeks from the date of having placed the order, depending on the outcome of this recent covid exposure and the ongoing decision making of the government.
It’s very important to the livelihoods of our staff and our community that we continue taking orders and operating normally as possible, but we’ll need the support and understanding of our customers.
All in all we’re in a better position than last time to deal with this lockdown and have made great progress beating back the multi month wait times we were facing earlier in the year. This current covid exposure has introduced a new level of uncertainty to things however we’ll be keeping you updated as the situation progresses.
Thanks and take care,
The Team at Kailash Blades
