Courtesy Photo Khalida feels respected for her work, and earning a living wage enables her to plan for her future.

Today, that initiative includes some 850 families spread around Pakistan's borders -- where economic opportunity is especially hard to come by, said his son, Yousaf Chaman, who oversees the Bunyaad artisan group.

Beginning next Tuesday, 350 pieces of their work, handmade, one-of-a-kind, heirloom-quality Oriental rugs steeped in the 2,000-year-old tradition-rich craft will be available at the 49th annual International Fair Trade Gift Festival and Rug Event in Fairfield, Pa.

"Bunyaad," said Yousaf Chaman, in a phone recent interview from Lahore, Pakistan, "is an Urdu word meaning 'foundation.' It represents the chance for the artisans to earn a wage that will enable them to have three meals a day and educate their children."

Dede Leister, coordinator of the Oriental rug program at the Ephrata, Pa.-based Ten Thousand Villages, said the annual event will also include jewelry, pottery, art, home furnishings, scarfs and other textile products from 25 to 30 developing countries.

Bazaar started in 1946

The Ten Thousand Villages fair trade bazaar traces its roots to 1946, when Edna Ruth Byler, a volunteer for Mennonite Central Committee, visited a Mennonite sewing class in Puerto Rico. She discovered the talent the women had for creating beautiful lace and the extraordinary poverty in which they lived despite their hard work.

Byler began carrying the pieces back to the United States to sell and returning the money to these groups directly. Her work grew into Ten Thousand Villages, which opened its first fair trade shop in 1958 and is the largest fair trade retailer in North America.

In the 1980s, Ten Thousand Villages began its relationship with Pakistani Oriental rug makers, Leister said. She's traveled twice to Pakistan to meet the artisans, experience life in their villages and see them work firsthand.

"So much news out of Pakistan that is covered in the media is bad, but when we make trips to the villages the people really are so wonderful," she said. "We lived with families for three weeks each time and they are incredibly hospitable people who want the same thing we all want: peace and health care and to be paid enough that their children can go to school."

The Bunyaad program puts looms in artisans homes -- Christians, Muslims and Hindus alike -- and pays for their materials. By doing so, the program also enables women, who make up about 60 percent of the artisans, to contribute to the family's income.

Most of the small rural villages lack basic infrastructure, Yousaf Chaman said, because the Pakistani government has been fearful of investing there because of political conflicts with its neighbors.

"Many people own small (amounts of) land and cultivate enough vegetables to feed themselves, and many own cows and have plenty of milk and butter," he said. "And they own their own houses, which would be impossible in the bigger cities, but they don't have enough income. Farming and brick-making may produce a little income, but they are only five-month seasons."

Many are in the villages -- some of which are nearly 1,000 years old -- and do not wish to leave their homes behind to earn a living, Chaman said. That is particularly true with rug-making artisans, whose wool comes from Karakul sheep and dye from local trees, plants, flowers and fruit, including sunflowers, marigolds, walnuts shells and orange peels, he said.

"The countryside provides surroundings and inspiration for the artisans to design rugs," said Chaman, a business and economics graduate of Punjab University. "The colors of flowers, the new crops, the mustard fields, the beautiful sunrises around the Himalayan mountains -- which are different at different times of the year -- these are where the natural designs, natural colors and ideas of the artisan working on the loom come from."

Chaman, noting that his father is still active in promoting innovative social programs in Pakistan, said the expensive looms are given to artisans on a greatest need basis, without discrimination of religion or gender. Children are not allowed to do the work and must attend school.

He added that village participation in the Bunyaad program often helps to build bonds across different religious groups.

Chaman said it may take a family of four artisans, up to a year to 14 months to create a 500 knot-per-square-inch, 9-foot by 12-foot Oriental rug. Rugs may cost anywhere from $250 to $7,000, depending on size and quality.

"By asking the artisan what is a fair price and what they need, and eliminating the middle man, they are able to make a living," he said. With basic economic security guaranteed, artisans are freed to pursue their craft.

"Artisans only make a few rugs in their lifetime," Chaman said. "They want them to be perfect."