Moving Mountains
Meet Ang Phurba Sherpa, a trekking guide in Nepal who sacrificed his life savings to buy food and supplies for unemployed colleagues after the pandemic wreaked havoc on Nepal's tourism industry.
The Himalayas usually draw an average of 171,000 tourists to Nepal each year, creating employment for trekking guides, hospitality workers and local retail. However, in 2020 the number of tourists plummeted to less than a few hundred and stayed at those levels with this year's continued lockdowns.
With limited employment opportunities, most trekking guides have endured two years without work or income and struggled to put food on the table for their families. Although Ang has been in the same situation, he decided to dig into his savings and help his fellow guides. Throughout the pandemic Ang has bought sacks of rice, lentils, cooking oil and other staples which he loads onto his truck and delivers to dozens of families around Kathmandu.
A single delivery from Ang keeps most of the families fed for a month.
For the past three months, Ang has also been delivering rations to a local shelter that cares for 57 disabled children. The shelter operator is a fellow guide who is struggling to keep the charity afloat without an income. Thanks to Ang’s deliveries they're now able to feed the children.
Ang’s story is a potent reminder about the power of kindness and our responsibility to take care of each other through times of crisis. He’s hoping his actions inspire others to do the same.
“The guides are facing lots of trouble and they are in they are in pain, and I can feel the suffering. I am in a difficult situation, but I want to help fellow guides and hope they too will come out to help each other too.”
