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IPPG Newsletters: August 2001
Letters to the editor |
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Would you please tell me why (name withheld) is not listed as an endorsed trekking company in the Himalaya? I am interested in taking a trek with them, but will not be party to any human rights abuse. Thank you, S K
Ed: Getting endorsed by IPPG is up to the trekking/travel companies. IPPG requires them to produce a letter stating that they implement the five guidelines, educate their staff in the issue of health and safety for the trekking porter, and put in a question on porter welfare in their post-trek questionnaire to trekkers. See more on endorsements in this newsletter.
My name is A S. I live in Contoocook New Hampshire in the USA. I am thirteen years old. Today Ben Ayers talked to our school about the work that he does to try and help the porters in Nepal. I found this very interesting and was wondering if there is anything that i can do to help. I don't have a job so I don't have very much money and i already donate my used coats to a non profit organization.
If you could send me some more information that would be greatly appreciated.
thank you
Ed: It was suggested their school collect some winter clothes for the clothing bank.
A new direction from World Expeditions
(…) Our intentions are to better conditions for our porters this coming season. This new policy will involve us providing a mess tent, stoves, kerosene and some basic food (rice, daal, tea, etc.). The main thrust of this is to ensure that our porters are cared for, particularly above the tree line where conditions are often harsh, and to ensure that we are protecting the environment for future trekkers and the people of Nepal. We need to do this to ensure a sustainable trekking service and feel very strongly about it. Tim Macartney Snape has been one of the major forces behind this.
We realise that this will be a new concept for the porters and will take some time to implement. Education is necessary to ensure they understand the reasons and benefits of what this means to them. I think this needs to start at the top, with group leaders and sirdars helping to police and implement the notion. Needless to say, we will provide the tools for this to happen.
Sue Badhyari, manager
Dear IPPG,
Please use Porter's Plight at your pleasure...I got all of my ideas from IPPG and saw it on the trail........your website included in poem...sent copies to the Lonely Planet and Trailblazer...was in Kathmandu and did the Annapurna Circuit......saw the BBC documentary in early May at a Thamel hotel.....saw the porters on the trail...been writing California Cowboy eco-poetry on the road for the last 5 months..and this one really caught my attention..
...great work on the IPPG…donated my clothes to the cause...
Evan W.R. Edgar
PORTER'S PLIGHT
elite Sherpas elevate image
high altitude super heroes
Tenzing Norgay served Everest
Sirdars speak in many tongues
guiding groups, cultivating culture
decent pay days, own pay load
Porters carry the burden
trekkers could not carry less
passed over, caste away
60 kilogram head bands
on a set of slippery flip flops
garbage bag snow parka
rock bivvie pillows
passed by, caste away
peasants from plow to portage
just rupees per haul
mutely balancing western loads
all weather, no warranty
Porters: tough, proud, exploited
Internet all-exclusive yuppie packages
$60 per day and just a day pack to carry
morning Starbucks tent-to-tent
no worries, porters got it all
got high altitude sickness, hunger, frostbite
abandoned on the trail
half of Himalayans death
used up, caste away
International Porter Protection Group
www.ippg.net recently formed
Porter Clothing Bank funded
Porter Shelter Project underway
BBC documentary expose
Himalayan human rites of passage
Trekker's soul responsibility
Protect your Porter
Share the Load
2001 - A Global Waste Odyssey
On the Road with Revan Evan
Hallo IPPG,
A friend just passed me the information about the International Porter Protection Group and we are very much interested in your work.
We are working with the Tengboche Development Project at the foot of Mt. Everest and are very concerned about the porters at Tengboche, which is very cold in the winter tourist season. Tengboche is located at an altitude of about 4.000 meters. Porters stay in the open forest at night in Tengboche. Because nobody was interested to help the porters, the village of Khumjung (Tengboche is a part off Khumjung), the Tengboche Monastery (a Buddhist monastery in Tengboche) and the Tengboche Development Project got together and raised over Rs 350,000.- (about US$ 5,000.-) to build a porter's lodge in Tengboche. Without any outside help. The lodge has been completed and now the porters from all over the area come and sleep there. In the evening there is a lot of singing and dancing (and yes, some drinking) ongoing. Porters saying it is the best spot to get information about their business. Also in Namche Bazar we have opened a clinic, where poor porters get free treatment. More in our webpage: www.tengboche.org. Because there are a lot of porters the lodge is already too small and we are considering to enlarge it. Please come and have a look.
Michael Schmitz
Ed: We will visit this in October, and Ben Ayers will see what can be done to link up Porters Progress with the clinic and Tengboche Porter Shelter.
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There is a story that comes to mind when I think of my own experiences in Nepal in project work and I think it is very applicable to what we are trying to do in IPPG. You may have heard it before but it deserves repetition. Briefly, the story talks about a man walking down a beach one evening in Mexico. Ahead of him, in the distance, he sees someone repeatedly bending down, picking something up and tossing it into the ocean. As he gets closer, the man realizes that a previous high tide has washed hundreds of starfish onto the sand and they are now stranded well above the water line and in danger of dying. The task of saving them all seems impossible and a waste of time. He calls to the other person and says, "You're crazy, Man! You can't possibly save all of those Starfish. There are just too many of them. There isn't time for you to throw them all back into the ocean before they die! Why do you bother?" But the other fellow hardly looks up or pauses in his work. He just bends down, picks up another Starfish and as he throws it back into the ocean he says, "I made a difference to that one. Didn't I?"
Elsie James
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| Contents:
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
How to contact IPPG
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