- Title: NEPAL: EVEREST ANNIVERSARY: SHERPAS LIFESTYLE STORY.
- Date: 29th May 2003
- Summary: (W1) KHUMBU REGION, NEPAL (RECENT) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS OF SNOW-CAPPED PEAK WITH MOONLIGHT 2. GROUP OF MOUNTAINS IN EVEREST REGION WHILE SUN RISING WITH MOUNT EVEREST ON FAR LEFT 3. HELICOPTER FLYING IN FRONT OF MOUNTAIN 4. SNOW-CAPPED MOUNTAINS IN EVEREST REGION 5. VALLEY WITH RIVER RUNNING THROUGH 6. RIVER 7. VARIOUS OF PORTERS CARRYING LOADS THROUGH EVEREST TRAILS 8. TREKKERS WALKING ON TRAIL 9. MORE OF PORTERS CARRYING LOADS 10. VARIOUS OF PORTERS WASHING DISHES IN THE RIVER 11. (SOUNDBITE) (English) HARKA RAI SHERPA, SHERPA GUIDE, SAYING: "It's very hard to become a guide, actually. We should do lots of struggle. We have to carry heavy load as a porter at the beginning of the job." 12. PORTERS CARRYING LOADS AND TREKKERS HIKING THROUGH MOUNTAIN TRAIL 13. SMALL VILLAGE ON EVEREST TRAIL 14. WOMAN AND YOUNG GIRL LOOKING OUT FROM THEIR HOME 15. MAN LOOKING OUT A WINDOW 16. ELDERLY WOMAN WALKING IN VILLAGE 17. TREKKERS WALKING THROUGH VILLAGE 18. ELDERLY MAN STANDING BY MOUNTAIN TRAIL 19. YOUNG PORTER CARRYING FIREWOOD 20. VARIOUS OF PORTER CARRYING MEAT ON THEIR WAY TO MARKET (W1) NAMCHE BAZAAR VILLAGE, KHUMBU REGION, NEPAL (RECENT) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 21. VIEW OF NAMCHE BAZAAR VILLAGE 22. VARIOUS OF MARKET 23. MEAT MERCHANT CUTTING MEAT AT MARKET 24. MORE OF MARKET (W1) KATHMANDU, NEPAL (RECENT) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 25. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANG RITA SHERPA, HEAD OF HIMALAYAN TRUST, SAYING: "I am very much concerned. My friends, local people are very much concerned with the loss of our traditional cultures. The Sherpa people are still maintaining the important part of their culture. But there's always loss of something time passes, as technology doubles up. Now the area has been exposed to so much. We now have telecommunications, satellite TV's, telephones. There are bringing a change of life, but it is hard to stop." (W1) KHUMJUNG VILLAGE, KHUMBU REGION, NEPAL (RECENT) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 26. VARIOUS OF TRADITIONAL CEREMONY 27. VARIOUS OF PRAYER FLAGS AND MOUNTAINS IN KHUMBU REGION NEAR KHUMJUNG 28. VARIOUS OF SHERPA PUTTING UP FLAGS Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 13th June 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NAMCHE BAZAAR VILLAGE, KHUMJUNG VILLAGE, KHUMBU REGION, KATHMANDU NEPAL
- Country: Nepal
- Reuters ID: LVA4Q41UOAOZMA2VJJOSPSE6QAJP
- Story Text: The Sherpa people in Khumbu Nepal have lived quietly in
the highlands of the Mount Everest region for centuries, but
Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's historic ascent of the
planet's tallest peak in 1953 sparked a tourism trade that
brought them worldwide recognition, transformed their lives
and is slowly changing their culture.
Inspired by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's
1953 remarkable conquest of Mount Everest or "Goddess of the
Earth" as many Sherpas refer to it, thousands of tourists and
experienced mountaineers have since flooded the once silent
region in the remote highlands of Nepal.
The first ascent of the planet's tallest peak opened the
gates to the "roof of the world" to enthusiastic adventurers
transforming the lives of the Sherpas who have lived below the
shadows of Everest for centuries. Nearly 30,000 tourists visit
Nepal every year.
Sherpas are blessed with features that help them thrive
more than 3 miles above sea level where the air is thin and
oxygen is scarce so they play an important role as guides.
They start out as young as 12 years-old working first as
high-altitude porters for well-heeled mountaineers and moving
up as guides for trekking groups who explore the region by
hiking at altitudes under 18,000 feet, without technical
equipment.
In Nepal, where most of the people are subsistence
farmers, the annual income per capita is about $1,500 U.S
dollars a year. Sherpas who work in the tourism industry can
earn five times as much. As a result, Sherpas now do less of
the heavy lifting on the trail. A Sherpa will organise and
lead the trek, but the bulky gear is usually carried by a less
well paid porter.
"It's very hard to become a guide, actually. We should
do lots of struggle. We have to carry heavy load as a porter
at the beginning of the job," said Harka Rai Sherpa, a guide
who first started work as a porter.
Their strength, experience, calm and congenial demeanor
makes them ideal companions for climbers.
"People are so wonderful. I'm just in awe of those people
carrying those loads up those mountains. It's just
unbelievable," said Liz Velji, one of the trekkers.
Sherpas own most of the 400-plus lodges in the Khumbu
region, where Mount Everest stands, and many of the companies
that organise the treks in Kathmandu. Many villages in Khumbu
enjoy some of the modern conveniences made possible by
Sherpas' success.
Growth in the region has not only improved the standard of
living in many villages, but it has helped commerce flourish.
Sherpas walk for days from many different villages in the
south up to Namche Bazaar, a prosperous Sherpa village and
important trading center for the Saturday market.
Many tourists, say it still seems like hard work by
Western standards, but for the Sherpa people it's a way of
life regarded as a gift from the Gods, Sir Edmund Hillary and
Tenzing Norgay.
There is concern that as Sherpas leave Khumbu for even
better opportunities, they will leave part of their culture
behind as well. Thousands of young families have moved to
bigger cities like Kathmandu looking to better themselves. A
population of only about 10,000 Sherpas remains in Khumbu.
"I am very much concerned. My friends, local people are
very much concerned with the loss of our traditional cultures.
The Sherpa people are still maintaining the important part of
their culture. But there's always loss of something time
passes, as technology doubles up. Now the area has been
exposed to so much. We now have telecommunications, satellite
TV's, telephones. There are bringing a change of life, but it
is hard to stop," said Ang Rita Sherpa, head of the Himalayan
Trust and foundation started by Hillary.
In the villages, many Sherpas still make an effort to
preserve their traditions and to pass them on to younger
generations. In Khumjung, villagers wearing traditional
costumes hold a number of ceremonies just before the rainy
season to pray for a good season for their crops and they
still hold deeply religious faith which promotes the Buddhist
idea of compassion for all human beings.
Not far from Khumjung prayer flags swirl in the wind
gracing spectacular mountainsides nearly 30 years after they
were first raised. Many of them were placed near villages in
memory of Sir Edmund Hillary's first wife and their daughter
who died in a 1975 plane crash en route to join him in Nepal.
Sherpa means person from the east. The first Sherpas are
believed to have walked from eastern Tibet reaching the
southern slopes of Everest in the 16th century and settling in
425 square miles that make up the Khumbu region. Their Sherpa
language which is still thriving today has Tibetan origins.
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