A Porter's Life
How You Can Help.
“In 1997, a young Nepali porter employed by a trekking company became severely ill with altitude illness. He was paid off and sent down alone. It took just another 30 hours for him to die….He was 20 years old and left behind a wife and 2 small children. " The International Porter Protection Group (IPPG) was formed to prevent these recurring tragedies.
The group is run entirely by volunteers. Their mission is to lobby, educate and monitor through direct support of clothing banks, the construction of shelters and rescue posts. You can visit their website to learn more about how you can donate or volunteer at http://www.ippg.net/ or IG @ippguk
Thanks for taking time to view this series and story. There are many more photos and untold stories. I’ve merely presented a brief glimpse into the lives of these men and women. Please reach out to me if you have any additional information, ideas, thoughts, questions.
Here are some other reputable organizations I've found out about due to connections and a bit of research are:
The Juniper Fund. http://www.juniperfund.org @thejuniperfund
Community Action Nepal (CAN): https://www.canepal.org.uk/
@communityactionnepal
Kathmandu Environmental Education Project: https://keepnepal.org/ @keepnepal
Superhuman Tragedy
A Porter's Life. Superhuman Tragedy. This series is a dedication to depicting the incredibly arduous lives of porters in the Khumbu region of Nepal. It's a passion project of sorts. An issue I care deeply about and want to use my imagery and storytelling to hopefully generate awareness and ultimately real change that improves the lives of the porters in the Khumbu.
Last month (November 2018) Guiding on route to Everest Base Camp, I was profoundly struck by the daily struggles for so many local porters. It had me questioning on so many levels. Why must they carry such insanely heavy loads? How do they even humanly carry so much weight? How am I contributing to this? What dreams do they have? Can they even stand up straight or lay down flat to sleep at night? What can we as visitors do to improve their plight? How many years does this work cut off of their lives? Who looks after them? The list goes on... I spoke at large with my local guides about this issue. They were former porters and would stop on the trail to document their lives and hardships too...questioning them...”How much are you carrying? Who allowed you to carry this much? Also poignantly pleading ...'We understand...but care for yourself...for your health and family'. For me...I felt helpless. I don't have answers but have many thoughts. I know it affected me deeply. I told my guides and local friends I would document some of these struggles through my imagery. In turn, they will highlight these at the big tourism convention in Nepal in 2020 to see if some of these issues can be addressed.
I want to start it off by merely showing a common load seen numerous times daily on the trails. Over 200 pounds on a 5 foot 125 pound frame. 9 feet high by 6 feet wide. 12-15 hours a day between 9-15 thousand feet above sea level. Let it sink in. I encourage you to share your thoughts with me. Especially if you have seen this first-hand anywhere.
