Support Sherpa Families through COVID-19

Hi, my name is Anuj Patel. I'm a Junior in High School, and ever since I was a kid, I’ve been exploring the outdoors and hiking new peaks. Last year, I had the opportunity to travel to Nepal with my family to do just that in the Himalayas. After spending two weeks on the trails, I became friends with the Sherpas who helped me along the way, including Gadul. Gadul is one of the many Sherpas who were greatly impacted by this pandemic. I had the pleasure of speaking with him recently, and I found his story to be heart-breaking. I would like you all to hear it in his own words.

Namaste,

My name is Gadul Bahadur Tamang and I am a climbing and trekking guide. It’s been more than 30 years since I joined this profession. The Himalayan mountains have been a source of sustenance for me as well as other Sherpa guides like myself. We have no other skills besides guiding trekkers and adventurers through the mountainous trails. Normally what we earn during the two tourism seasons, ie, Spring and Autumn, is enough to tide us through the whole year. Clients are generous and they offer us tips and the trekking agencies that we work for help us financially too. 

This year, because of the Coronavirus lockdown, things have been tough. What is worse is this lockdown was declared at the start of the Spring season, the first season of the year. Five groups of clients had booked my services for this season, but with the lockdown in place everything got cancelled. Of course I understand that lockdown is important for the health and safety of everybody, but the economic impact is proving to be a heavy burden for us. I, as well as the other guides and porters have not been able to even a single penny this year. 

With aging parents and my own family dependent on me, I have run out of my savings and am taking loans to tide us through this difficult period. The uncertainty of this lockdown is keeping me anxious as every day I am getting myself deeper in debt. For the first month of the lockdown the company that I work for did help me with some funds but with no business generated their hands are also tied and they can’t support field staff like myself. My old parents are on medication as they have bone related problems. The school fees of my 3 children, a daughter who is in Grade XI and twin sons who are in Grade VIII, are yet to be cleared. 

But these are lesser concerns. What has been worrying me and giving me sleepless nights is what will I do if we run out of money and food supplies? Where will the next meal come from? How will I feed my family of 7 in the coming days? Every day I wake up feeling dreadful and anxious. This feeling of helplessness is horrible. I hope and pray to our gods that this pandemic will end soon. This is like a bad nightmare which I wish would end soon.  I want to be up in the mountains again, earning my livelihood and providing for my family. I wish for normalcy to return. 

Sincerely, Gadul


Sherpas and their families rely on tourism for an income. With COVID-19 slowing down travel abroad, Nepal’s economy is put into a crisis. Without tourists coming to Nepal during the spring trekking season, the population is forced to live in deeper poverty than ever, and families aren’t able to support themselves.

To make matters worse, Nepal's government isn't capable of helping their citizens unlike many other countries in the world. The population of Nepal is being left to survive with the bare minimum. This situation can last until the end of next year, and the Nepalese won’t have enough money to support their families until then.

That’s why I have created this fundraiser.

All donations towards this cause will go to help the guides and families of Extollo Adventures, the trekking company I had traveled with. There are 20 families that we want to help, and each family needs only around 250 USD per month for the basic essentials, which include rent, food, and water. We are hoping to donate at least 1500 USD to each family so they can support themselves for around 5-6 months. If we receive more money than our goal, it will go out to support their extended families. We are hoping that we can donate enough to help everyone in need. 

All funds that we receive will go straight to Extollo’s office in Kathmandu, Nepal, and we will make sure the cash gets distributed to each family for them to buy the basic essentials.

Thank you for reading and supporting these families during this crisis.