Biographies

Biographies of Himalayan Imports Staff

KAMI SHERPA

Let me introduce myself to you.

I am Kami Sherpa. I am the owner of Himalayan Imports.

I have almost 70 years experience with khukuris. I have lived all my life in Nepal except for a few years when I lived mostly in India while I was serving as a Gorkha Rifleman in the Indian Army.

I served in the Indian Army, Assam Rifles, 4th Battalion, Company C from 1952 to 1957. I was a rifleman. I believe you call the rank a Lance Corporal here. I was assigned to mostly border duty with Pakistan and Bangladesh. I did some duty in the Kashmir.

I intended to make a career of Gorkha service but family hardship caused me to leave the service before I wanted. I am lucky in that I never had to kill anybody but I had to chase many along the border with my khukuri.

I have eight children living. My wife, Dali, died much too young with heart disease. I never remarried and raised the children by myself.

I have had a khukuri in my hand for almost 70 years. As children it was our responsibility to gather wood for our fires so you learn to use the khukuri at a very early age.

My neighbour, Kancha Kami, was the kami who made khukuris for all the people in our valley and even beyond. He was a very fine kami and I learned much about the manufacture of khukuris from him. He was older than me and has now left his body. He made some khukuris for us when we were first getting started as Himalayan Imports but sadly neither Bill Jwai nor I have one of these and now it is too late to ever get another.

My daughter is Yangdu, and my jwai (son-in-law) is Bill Martino

--Kami Sherpa, 13.08.99


My father-in-law, Kami Sherpa, is not a kami though he can make a very nice handle for a khukuri but lacks the skill to forge a decent blade.

He was named Kami for the following reason:-- the Sherpas believe that the Angel of Death has a quota to satisfy and this includes newborns. It is believed the Angel will pass over those of lower caste so they named their son "Kami", hoping the Angel would think he was indeed a kami of the lowest caste and not take him to fulfill the death quota.

It worked!

--Bill Martino


BILL & YANGDU MARTINO

['Uncle' Bill and 'Didi' Yangdu Martino are managers of Himalayan Imports khukuri sales and distribution and other operations based in Reno, Nevada, USA. Yangdu is the daughter of Kami Sherpa (the owner of HI). Bill Martino graduated from college in 1956, with a degree in math and physics, and earned his pilot's license in the same year. Took one year advanced study as "special student." About 20 years experience mostly as a flight test engineer at such firms as Boeing, Lockheed, Cessna, Ryan and Rohr. Time out during college to volunteer for service in US Navy during Korean War. ]

About 20 years ago after having been a student of Oriental religion for some time I decided it was time for me to travel to the part of the world that could provide me with some teachings straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak. I decided to go to Nepal.

But, I got to thinking. Here I am, an American, from the richest country in the world, going to Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world, to try to get something from them. It did not seem fair so I joined the Peace Corps as a volunteer, and traveled to Nepal in that capacity. It took about two minutes off the plane at Tribhuvan to realize that what Nepal needed most was some employment opportunities and a few Yankee dollars.

A failing kidney cut short my tour of duty in the Peace Corps, but after surgery and recovery in the US, I returned to Nepal as a private citizen determined to accomplish my mission of learning more of Buddhism and finding some way to achieve my goal of returning something to Nepal in exchange for my lessons in Buddhism. I met Yangdu and we were married. I found the answers I was seeking and became a Buddhist. I searched for a way to help the Nepali people.

Finally, I decided to try one of the few things the Nepalis could manufacture -- the khukuri. Himalayan Imports (which should have been Himalayan "exports") was born. At first we tried to deal directly with individual kamis such as Nara but found this gave us no real product line and gave us problems like scabbards. Just because a man can make a decent knife does not mean he can make a decent scabbard. And, the handles were often only four inches, made for Nepalis. We kept working.

I started to run ads in knife magazines and other appropriate spots and found they were very expensive. I had to set the price of my khukuris high to try to cover ads and operating cost. I had the reputation of the junk kukri from India to overcome. I sent knives to magazines and newspapers here and abroad hoping for exposure. Just trying to stay alive was a major problem.

In Nepal, we were searching for a way to standardize our khukuri. We discovered a shop in southeast Nepal that was making khukuris for the tourist market, down and dirty cheap, but the operator was capable of making a high quality khukuri to our specs. So, we made a paca, a deal. We would try a joint venture, making a top quality khukuri with a decent sized handle aimed at the US and world market. We would make the best that could be made and pay the price -- and this is what we have done.

The more we sold the more I advertised and promoted, keeping the price of the khukuris steady. I gained customers and soon many of my sales were repeat orders.  Our khukuris began to attract attention and a magazine article would pop up here and there. My legwork began to pay off and we started receiving orders from foreign countries -- not many, but some. More articles and the word began to spread. We started to show a profit. We made more khukuris back in Nepal, giving employment to those that needed it most. And, after five years of struggle we were showing a profit.  I received offers from major manufacturing houses in India and Pakistan who could make a khukuri of equal quality for a lower cost. I turned them down, telling them this would be like taking the food off my own family's table.

We made a khukuri for the Canadian Army Museum which was rated the best in their collection. About 25 of our khukuris were donated to the National Knife Museum in Chattanooga by Dr. Bill Rosenthal of New Orleans. More articles. About a year ago and at the cost of a bleeding ulcer I bought a computer and got on the net. In the last couple of years we have had good press.

This may not seem like much to the big boys but to date I have invested about $50,000 in advertising and promotion and have untold hours of time invested toward making this business work. I have bent over backwards to offer the best customer service that I can. In Nepal the kamis have sworn at me because I would ask for the "impossible." It has not been easy but I am proud of our effort.

Although I have no way of proving this I am of the opinion that our years of struggle and effort have inspired US manufacturers to introduce khukuris as part of their product line and others to import khukuris and offer them.

--Bill Martino, 11-March-1999