Kul Bahadur's story

by Wanda Vivequin and Dr Jim Duff

Kul Bahadur is a farmer from a village in Eastern Nepal. He started working as a porter for trekkers to raise some extra cash for his family. All went well till, in 1999, he was paid off by a trekking group when he was too ill to carry his load. He was unconscious when another group found him by the side of the Everest base camp trail and arranged for him to be carried to Pheriche rescue post. When he woke up 9 days later he found he had severely frostbitten feet.

Images of his blackened feet continue to shock audiences around the world as they are featured on the BBC documentary Carrying the Burden. Eventually his (Kul Bahadur's) fore feet and toes had to be amputated and he was unable to walk back to his village, 10 days walk from the road, to be reunited with his family.

Kul spent 2 years in the Lepers colony at Pashputinath where he worked in their craft workshop but after further reconstructive surgery he was able to walk more comfortably and he finally made the trip home to his village to see his family again. His youngest daughter was born while he had been away!

Over the years Kul Bahadur has made excellent progress, culminating this year in his purchase of a small tea shop in Kathmandu. For everyone concerned this is good news indeed. Not only has financial assistance enabled most of his family to move to Kathmandu, he is now able to support them on the small income from the tea shop he purchased last year.

The teashop is located near the Til Ganga Eye Hospital and his clientele includes staff that comes to drink tea and eat noodles and momos. Kul Bahadur has told people who have helped him that he feels good about himself and is pleased that there is an opportunity for him to support his family and live an independent life.

As Kul's situation has gradually improved, he has been able to bring all three of his daughters from the village to attend school in Kathmandu. His sister has also joined him to help care for the girls and help in the Tea Shop. His wife remains in their village cultivating their small piece of land.

They hope to sell this soon so that the whole family can be reunited in Kathmandu.

Over the years the IPPG and Porters Progress have helped Kul to create a self-sufficient life in the city. IMEC located a generous sponsor, Mike Soloman, who helped the purchase of his tea shop. This is great news for Kul, his family and all his supporters. We wish him well and hope you might drop in for a chai if you are near Pashupatinath.