Nepal Guide and Porter Food Project
Donation protected
We've always believed travel can be a force for good, but with international travel put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic, the impact on local communities dependent on tourism has been devastating.
In the meantime, we've put our heads together and come up with a way to tackle an urgent need in the Nepali tourism community – the welfare of our local sherpa guides and porters.
While most porters are subsistence farmers, the bulk of their income comes from assisting visitors as they trek into the heart of the Himalayas. The salary and tips they receive help them feed their families, send their children to school, and even save for a larger plot of land or open their own teahouse. Without tourists, they have no income stream and are receiving little to no financial support during this time. March into May is typically the busiest climbing season, but all operations abruptly halted due to Covid-19. While Nepal is planning a phased end to its lockdown, the impact in the fall climbing season will be dramatic as well. The situation is becoming dire and many of the porters and their families are becoming desperate.
Wilderness Travel and our partners on the ground are organizing a food delivery to send food staples such as rice, grains, dal, cooking oil, and soap to our guides and porters. Rice is a very important staple in the Nepali diet and a 100-pound bag of rice costs only $50. We are hoping our past guests who visited Nepal will consider assisting us in these efforts and we're asking your help with donations to purchase these food staples. Our goal is to raise US$9,000.
WT is not an NGO, nor do we have a non-profit arm, so these donations will not be tax-deductible.
In the meantime, we've put our heads together and come up with a way to tackle an urgent need in the Nepali tourism community – the welfare of our local sherpa guides and porters.
While most porters are subsistence farmers, the bulk of their income comes from assisting visitors as they trek into the heart of the Himalayas. The salary and tips they receive help them feed their families, send their children to school, and even save for a larger plot of land or open their own teahouse. Without tourists, they have no income stream and are receiving little to no financial support during this time. March into May is typically the busiest climbing season, but all operations abruptly halted due to Covid-19. While Nepal is planning a phased end to its lockdown, the impact in the fall climbing season will be dramatic as well. The situation is becoming dire and many of the porters and their families are becoming desperate.
Wilderness Travel and our partners on the ground are organizing a food delivery to send food staples such as rice, grains, dal, cooking oil, and soap to our guides and porters. Rice is a very important staple in the Nepali diet and a 100-pound bag of rice costs only $50. We are hoping our past guests who visited Nepal will consider assisting us in these efforts and we're asking your help with donations to purchase these food staples. Our goal is to raise US$9,000.
WT is not an NGO, nor do we have a non-profit arm, so these donations will not be tax-deductible.
Organizer
Wilderness Travel
Organizer
Berkeley, CA