A day in the life of a porter
Morning breaks and foreign trekkers wake up to bowls of warm water for washing. As a porter you have been up for an hour brewing and drinking your own meager cup of thin black tea. The fire at the edge of the cave smolders as you pack up your things: one metal bowl, one toothbrush, one wool cap, and one thin blanket. Your entire body hurts from yesterday's walk and the cold night. You meander through the snow to where the foreigners are now eating breakfast. Your load is waiting, two large duffel bags packed full and locked. You tie the two duffel bags together and lash your blanket, wrapped around all of your possessions, to the top of your load. You shake the cold out of your already wet feet and hands, pull the naamlo (carrying strap) onto your forehead and begin your day as you have begun countless others by struggling to stand up.
This is a typical morning for a Nepali trekking porter. Life is hard for these men and women, who are undoubtedly some of the strongest people on earth. Porters carry loads of between 30 and 60 kgs (75 - 150 lbs) for weeks on end. They cross and re-cross some of the most difficult passes in the Himalaya, frequently without adequate clothing or footwear.
All of this is endured for a few dollars a day plus the hope of earning tips from trekkers. Even the most fortunate porters earn only $150 in a three-month trekking season. Due to the spiraling cost of basic commodities a porter's salary barely covers expenses (food, lodging, cigarettes, and alcohol) while carrying on the trail. What little money remains goes directly home to their families and buys clothing for all, cooking oil, salt, and sugar. This money is vital to the cash-starved village economies of rural Nepal.

Porters, however strong, are still human. When they laugh, their faces light up. They sing songs to make the long days of carrying go by a little quicker. They miss their families. They worry. Their brilliance in the face of such difficult work is a testament to both the strength of the human spirit, and to the power of a smile. Porters, too, are mortal. They die every year from exposure, altitude sickness, and tragic falls.
Unfortunately, some trekking companies are unwilling or unable to properly equipment and care for their porters in the serious climate of the Himalayas. Rescue facilities for sick porters are almost non-existent. The treatment porters receive is akin to that given to the yaks whose jobs they share, and the porters, being unorganized and desperate for work, are unable to speak out about their plight.

Free educational classes Every day at 3 PM the Porter's Progress office in Lukla fills up. Porters who are in town looking for work come to the office to partake in the free education classes offered there. The classes are focused upon simple English language skills. The hope is that porters can learn enough English to approach foreigners for assistance in an emergency, or to get work.
Once a week, empowerment meetings are held in the office as well. The meeting begins with relevant training, on topics such as altitude sickness, frostbite and hypothermia and their prevention, environmental awareness, and basic health and hygiene. After the training is finished, porters are asked to brainstorm upon the positive aspects of their lives and their work, and how they can facilitate positive change within the industry themselves.

Other programs Developing from ideas obtained during these meetings are: the Stove Lending and Cottage Industry programs. It is difficult for porters to find firewood for cooking when camped above the treeline, and the resulting lack of nutrition at altitude greatly magnifies the potential for hypothermia and serious injury. Also, firewood use by porters is a major factor contributing to deforestation on trekking routes. Porters' Progress office in Lukla has acquired a number of small kerosene stoves that are made available on loan to porters.
Porters are also very talented folk artisans, and the artifacts they construct have great appeal to foreign visitors as souvenirs. Accordingly, we have begun purchasing handicrafts (miniature baskets, plows, walking sticks, etc.) from porters and selling them at cost to tourists. This program both encourages porter pride and craftsmanship, as well as providing a small income source in the off season.

The situation today
So far, the porters who have visited the porters' progress offices have shown a tremendous amount of appreciation and support for our programs. After running for only three seasons, we have enough clothing to outfit approximately 250 porters at one time. We have made contact with over 70 trekking companies in Nepal, and our office has been used by numerous trekking companies, independent tourists, and porters alike. The Lukla office has seen well over 700 'porter visits' (one porter attending one class), and class size averages 8-10 students with numbers reaching as high as 40. We have hired two local staff members to run the offices in Kathmandu and Lukla. The Kathmandu store is run by Arjun Chatakali who worked for many years as a porter before we were fortunate enough to employ him.
The media has also been very supportive of Porters' Progress. The clothing bank and educational classes has been featured in both the leading English and Nepali language newspapers in Nepal, as well as the Environmental News Network online (ENN.com). Porters' Progress was also featured in the BBC short documentary initiated by IPPG Carrying the Burden that was seen by approximately one million viewers in the UK in September 2000. This documentary will be shown in Australia later this year.

The future
The future of Porter's Progress is bright. We hope to institute some of the empowerment and education programs that have been so successful in Lukla in our Kathmandu office. Use of the lending program will also undoubtedly increase, and we are poised to expand our clothing stores and eventually institute a system where we are able to generate some sustainable income from trekking companies who use our services. We are also developing a 'porter handbook' that will serve as a textbook during English language lessons, and as a guide for porters with information on mountain safety, cultural appropriateness, and more. Lastly, we also hope to open a third office in the Annapurna area of western Nepal within two years. From this office we can expand our current clothing and education programs, and come closer to achieving nationwide coverage of the portering population in Nepal.
Portering is hard and dangerous work, but has fed hundreds of thousands of rural families in Nepal. Porters' Progress aims to keep porters alive on the trail so they can support their families. We are working alongside porters to change the industry into one that appreciates, honors, and encourages the strength, the skills, and the smiles of these amazing men and women.
Porters' Progress encourages people to go trekking as it is a great form of aid and a catalyst for change.
Ben Ayers, Porters' Progress director

Any donation of clothing for Porters Progress and the Clothing Bank should make its way to Arjun Chaatakuli at the HEC (Himalayan Explorers Club) office in Jyatha, Thamel. The HEC office is inside the KEEP office (Kathmandu Environmental Education Project). Or arrange for a pickup by phoning 259275 or emailing members@hec.org (with Arjun or Clothing Bank in the subject line)

Encouraging trek companies and trekkers to consider porter safety, through mail outs, flyers, exhibitions, posters, video and media

Lobbying appropriate government departments and visa facilities

Providing clothing and footwear for loan at the trail head through porter clothing banks

Raising funds for building porter shelters

Setting up an emergency relief fund for injured porters or their dependents.

Editorial

Porters' Progress and the Porter Clothing Bank

Two incident reports

IPPG's five guidelines

Reports from IPPG reps around the world

Letters to the editor

Endorsements