| Trailokya Aryal |
Posted
on 25-Mar-02 06:08 AM
I just heard about this great organization in Thamel called Porters Progress. Ben, who first came to Nepal as a study abroad student in the spring of 1998, is running the organization. He decided to come back to Nepal after he graduated from college, and started this great organization to help one of the most unprivileged groups in Nepal, the porters, who carry loads and loads of warm clothing, foods and others supplies for the trekkers, but they themselves are deprived of good gears (backpacks, jackets etc.). So, he decided to start this organization, and he came up with this brilliant idea (American liberal arts education, I guess) to get the porters directly involved in the running of the organization. The board members are all porters, and it has become the only place to voice their concerns regarding exploitations by the big (and small) trekking agencies. Ben will be leaving soon, but before he leaves he is all set to hand-over the organization to porters themselves, so that they can run it.
Porters Progress, lends gears such as backpacks, warm jackets, shirts to porters. So, if you are in Nepal, and are leaving for the US / elsewhere soon, but don’t know what to do with the Columbia and REI jackets you brought to Kathmandu thinking that it would be freezing here, why not donate that to this organization? Your donation(s) won’t be misused. An unprivileged Nepali. who has to walk up and down all the time to feed his family, will get to use it. You can also make financial contribution. (no, you don’t have to give out 10000s of dollars, but give them any amount you can…it will be used for the welfare and PROGRESS of Nepali porters)
If you need further information, you can email Ben directly at ben@hec.org or check out the web-site at http://www.ippg.net
Trailokya
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