From Australia
Lyn has set up several clothing bins in the Sydney area with Mountain Designs, and Snowgum, also in Mountain Design Katoomba and Bathurst. She also received some clothing from Kelly's Camping (100 caps and 50 pairs of Rugger Shorts -all new items).
Lyn is always active at raising the awareness of porters' welfare during her slide presentations, and by holding raffles to raise extra funds for IPPG. She has also contacted a Sydney-based charity called Lifeline. Here, people give away their old clothes to help the underprivileged, so Lyn buys these items such as second hand ski overalls and parkas for $2 a piece. This not only helps the porters in Nepal, but the homeless in Australia!
Great news! Thai airlines have agreed to give Lyn and her group of trekkers 20kg each excess luggage. They will be able to take over 130kg of clothing on the next trip!
From Canada
From Elsie: "The old, rather odd but true question, 'How do you eat an elephant?' and its simple answer, 'One bite at a time', has frequently entered my mind relative to the work that needs to be done in meeting IPPG'S objectives. I find the size of Canada and the enormity of the need a little daunting in terms of my available time. But progress is being made slowly but surely. Thanks to some very supportive people: Leslie Taylor and Shannon O'Donoghue of the Banff Centre who organised an exhibit of selected photos from the Celebrating the Mountain Porter show. The exhibition was presented in February in the conference centre and provided the opportunity to distribute information about IPPG projects to attendees of several conferences, local residents and visitors to Banff National Park during the busy winter ski season. Banff Centre and the Mountain Institute donated space, printed materials and promotion of the event. The show also resulted in several local newspaper articles.
A very special thanks to Allen Ronneseth, President and owner of Westcan Treks Worldwide Travel Specialists, and branch managers Rick Yearwood and Tracey Nordholm, who donated the ticket proceeds from their Spring Travel Slide Shows in Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver to IPPG projects. Their efforts raised a total of $1,769.10.
At the Calgary show in February, we had an IPPG exhibit featuring photos, the BBC video and posters promoting the Porters Clothing Bank.
The Canadian Himalayan Foundation have donated $1,000 to IPPG projects.
The February/March issue of Outpost Magazine, published an article entitled Bearing the Load Protecting Himalayan Porters that described the plight of the Porters and the goals of IPPG to find solutions to the problems."
Elsie is always busy educating trekkers on a one-to-one basis through her business contacts. She concludes: "We are making a difference for some porters in Nepal and we will influence their future lives and employment. The task is huge but the potential for improvement in the lives of some very deserving people is even greater!"
From East Africa
Welcome to our new rep in East Africa, Bobby McKenna. Bobby is the first rep working on areas outside Nepal. His area covers Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Kenya. Bobby is involved in the tourism industry and is very keen to develop a clothing bank for the Kilimanjaro porters.
Here is a bit more about Bobby: "(…)After a year as a guide in Paris, I took a job with a well-known UK Adventure Travel Company and was sent to destinations as disparate as Alaska and China, Jordan and Uganda before I found myself increasingly drawn to Tanzania, spending the low season traveling and doing voluntary work in the Meru/ Kilimanjaro region. After five years of freelance guiding and travel writing, I joined Abercrombie and Kent to set up their 'Active division', a new and dynamic safari portfolio…"
From France
Nicholas reports that there have been some articles in the French media who sometimes refers to the porters as 'truck-men'.
Nicholas is working on getting IPPG registered as a French non-profit association.
The IPPG pamphlet (translated in French) is distributed to the trekkers asking for a visa to the Nepalese consulate to France in Rouen and soon in Toulouse.
Nicholas continues to lobby the French trekking companies.
From Germany
Despite being extremely busy, Monika helped set up the exhibition in Austria and did newsletter mailouts to trekking, travel agents and other interested parties in her country. And Monika continues to be the IPPG art consultant.
From Hong Kong
Peter is very active in working with Ben to develop the possibility of a clothing bank for the Annapurna Circuit. Pete seems to be an expert in raising funds and getting students to collect clothing for the clothing bank! He is also working on raising enough funds to build a porter shelter at Annapurna Base Camp with the Himalayan Guide Association.
Peter gave a computer to Prakash for use at home on IPPG business; this was a donation from Nansen House at Island School. He is organising for another 100 kg or so of clothing to go to Nepal this year.
From Nepal
Last February, Prakash organised a conference for porters, in Kathmandu, the first of its kind. This was in conjunction with the King Mahendra Trust and ACAP. Prakash comments:
"There were all kinds of participants. We gained plenty of coverage on the newspapers and also Radio Nepal and Radio Sagarmatha. Actually this is very successful workshop in all aspect. It is a big achievement for IPPG to be recognised by the KTMNC/ACAP."
Prakash now has his own computer for IPPG work (thanks to Peter Clarke of Hong Kong). He tirelessly promotes the cause of the porters to the trekkers he meets. Prakash and Elsie James of Canada have expressed interest to work together to set the Porter Relief Fund on a firm footing, drawing up aims and guidelines and opening an official bank account.
From New Zealand
From Cheska:
Clothing bins. Auckland partner-stores (Mountain Designs, Bivouac and Pack 'n' Pedal) have collection bins in-store for donated clothes etc.
Press Coverage: July's edition of Wilderness Magazine (NZ's top outdoor/trekking magazine) covered the press release we sent out at the end of April highlighting the partnerships set up with retail outdoor clothing shops to assist the Clothing Bin initiative. David Hall (editor) was very interested in the program. He believes it to be of great interest to his readers. At present we are setting up a partnership with Singapore airways to get the gear across to Kathmandu. World Expeditions has offered assistance and are keen to stay involved.
Sleeping Bag Week: Pack 'n' Pedal (outdoor retail shop) are also interested in donating all traded-in sleeping bags, during their 'Trade in Sleeping Bag week' to the Clothing Bin initiative.
Photographic Exhibition: ...we are hoping to be able to show Celebrating the Mountain Porter photographic exhibition here in NZ in October / November.
From Scandinavia
So far, Lena has:
- informed people, organizations, travel and trekking companies on IPPG and their activities
- discussed with the Nepalese consulate in Oslo who has agreed to keep copies of the Sharing the load brochure at its office
- organised for an article on IPPG to be published in the Norway-Nepal Association membership magazine. (Lena is also intending to give a lecture on the porters of Nepal on one of the association's membership-meetings)
David Durkan has joined Lena to cover Scandinavia. David is a 'young at heart 52 year old' with lots of experience in climbing and trekking. David knows Nepal really well, and will no doubt be a great help to Lena!
Lena's and David's projects for the near future include:
- print 10.000 copies of the Sharing the load brochure
- have articles on the porter situation and IPPG in Norsk Klatring (climbing magazine), Norsk Tindeklubb (Norwegian mountaineering organization) membership magazine, and Aftenposten (the largest and most sincere Norwegian newspaper), and some other magazines.
- in collaboration with the Norwegian governments
broadcasting organization, Lena is hoping for a TV program on the situation of the porters in Nepal to be produced
- contact Norwegian suppliers of mountain equipment, and ask if they can include a few paragraphs on both our responsibilities for the porters and IPPG in their catalogues, and also ask them to get clothes to the Porter clothing bank
- get the BBC documentary shown in Norway
- extend the IPPG activities to cover Sweden and Denmark
From UK
Mo Ashead has agreed to distribute 1,000 IPPG pamphlets - the biggets mail out yet.
The fire brigade is trekking to basecamp and will raise money for IPPG. Ed has provided them with some slides for a promotional exhibition.
Ed is moving on from Oxford into a new life in the Parachute Regiment and this is a good time to thank him for all the effort he has put into IPPG from day one. His efficiency and drive have got the UK completely awakened to the porter issue. Well done Ed and all the best in your new life.
Welcome to Nayan Brown, who is taking over Ed Cartwright's role as IPPG rep for UK.
Nayan is a keen outdoor person who has done lots of walking at home and some trekking in Nepal. Here is what she says about her experience in Nepal: "(…) The more I chatted [with the porters] the more I became aware of my privileged western upbringing. Seeing the porters struggling with next to no equipment and getting very little support from their clients (because they were unaware) made me want do something about the situation. I feel that I have a fairly unique perspective on the situation, as being a Nepali living in the West it gives me a better understanding of both sides of the cultural and financial divide. I firmly believe that educating potential visitors is probably the most effective way of improving porters working conditions. I hope that my understanding of Nepalese culture allows me to help develop strategies which will increase awareness both in the West and in Nepal. (…). We should attack the situation from as many fronts as we can".
From USA
Scott and the co-directors of Himalayan Explorers Connection USA (formerly Himalayan Explorers Club) have been extremely busy and generous providing Ben with lots of support (financial and otherwise) to set up Porters Progress. Brandom Jones will be heading over to Nepal this fall to keep the program going, and Ben will probably join her in the spring. HEC is promoting Porters Progress in the US as the HEC Porter Assistance Project.
Angela Hawse has taken the job of being the coordinator of the IPPG activities in USA. Angela is a keen mountaineer and rock climber. She was the Deputy Leader on the Everest expedition which put the first disabled person on the summit in '98. She is involved with KEEP and just this past year instructed a
Guide Training for Nepali Women with EcoHimal and the Nepal Mountaineering Association. She has been a mountain guide for the last 13 years and just finished her MA in International Mountain Conservation. Currently she is an
'Urban plastic pulling mountaineer' working as program director and assistant manager at an indoor climbing gym in Seattle.
At the beginning of this year, Angela sponsored the porter poster project in Nepal.
