Porters

This picture was taken while we were waiting for lunch. The bags belonged to a big group, i believe from Britain. The bundled bags are typical of the load of a porter. Each porter can carry up to 15-20 kg of load. Some interesting items i saw porters carrying were wok, foldable chairs. There was one porter carrying chicken at Ghorepani area... maybe he's the chicken seller.

Remembered seeing poster at International Guesthouse about the need to take good care of your porter. It says that if the porter is sick at higher altitude, one needs to accompany him down. I was quite intrigued to note that there was an association of porters to promote such awareness. Here's extract from my search for that association.

"A porter was paid one days wage and sent down alone after suffering severe altitude sickness in the Everest region. He was found in a state of collapse and brought to the Pheriche Aid Post, spent nine days in a coma, and had both feet partially amputated due to frostbite."

Sigh... why must one porter die because of someone's holiday.

Read more about the Porter assistance project here:
http://www.hec.org/club/properporter.htm

Another article about Plight of porters:
http://www.kantipuronline.com/artha.php?&nid=52648