Mark Kesby, Jill Hope and St Mary’s College teachers Prue Kesby and Christina Pearce recently returned from an eye-opening journey to Nepal where they trekked the foothills of the Himalayas.
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The four Gunnedah residents took on the Australian Himalayan Foundation (AHF) Rebuild Nepal Trek in April which saw them trek for 18 days, stopping in various places to assist the Nepali.
The AHF’s charity trek is the result of the devastating earthquakes in Nepal in April 2015, which killed 9000 people, injured 23,000 and destroyed the majority of the country’s infrastructure.
AHF is working in the lower Solu Khumbu (Everest) region to repair and rebuild schools and offer support to families.
The trekking group of 12 raised $11,000 for Nepal through fund-raising efforts before they left Australia and visited a number of schools supported by the AHF, assisting in the rebuild at Garma. The Gunnedah community helped to contribute almost $5000 towards this figure.
Prue said non-government schools in Nepal received no money from the government so the funds would go a long way to assisting them.
“That $11,000 will pay a teacher’s wage for four years, however, this money will be used to lift teaching standards and supply resources to the schools” she said.
In remote areas children under the age of 10 attend non-government village schools because they cannot manage the two-hour rugged foot journey to the closest government school.
Prue said in non-government schools all subjects were taught in English from Year 1 and the students had to learn, from memory, the contents of the teacher’s pocket book.
“The kids are very keen on their education,” she said.
Nepali students have to pass all Nepalese national exams in order to move onto the next year of schooling. Prue said the exams were very similar to what students do in Australia.
The students do not get to learn science through practical activities, so Prue and Christina took along some small objects and conducted some experiments with the children in Rumpur Village.
“They loved it. The adults got as excited at the kids,” Prue said.
Despite the low wages and ensuing poverty in Nepal, Prue said parents wanted their children to get an education.
“They’re happy to pay the fees. They see English as a way for them to break the cycle they’re in,” she said.
Both adults and children regularly transport goods to earn money, carrying heavy loads of up to 100 kilograms.
“I guess the big thing you saw over there was how hard people had to work,” Mark Kesby said.
“In the mountainous areas, there were no roads, only tracks, so things are only carted on people’s backs or mules.”
The Nepali method of carrying is to suspend the loads from their heads, with a strap resting on the top of the head and the load resting against their back. The types of goods regularly carried by the Nepali include wood, food, beverages, fodder, building materials, luggage of tourists, and in one bizarre case, a billiard table.
“We were walking between Namche Bazaar and Tengboche and there was a billiard table in parts that was being carried up to [Everest] base camp,” Prue said.
“I was shocked.”
Mark said Nepal’s terrain was 85 per cent high to mountainous and quite dry. All agricultural practices are very basic – fields are ploughed by ox and wooden plough., and secondary tillage is done by hand using a short-handled hoe. Harvesting, threshing and winnowing is also done by hand.
“Every bit of land was terraced. The smallest terrace I saw had three corn plants on it, that shows how steep it was,” Mark said.
“It’s almost what you call subsistence agricultural.
“They need all the help we can give them, and the way to change what they’re doing is education.”
Despite the harsh and demanding conditions, Prue said the Nepali appeared to be “very calm” and content.
“You hardly ever heard a cry from a kid,” she said.
“They were all just so happy. Very positive, very strong sense of family and community.
“They look after their children well.”
Mark said there were a lot of “eye-openers” during the trip, the main one being the burden tourists put on the Nepali.
“I spoke to one man about 50 years old who was carrying a mixed load [of goods] including beer. He’s paid 45 rupees per kilo and he had 60 kilos on his back. That works out around $30 Australian for carrying that huge weight up a very steep track for two days. On top of that, he has to buy his own meals and accommodation and walk one further day to get back to the start,” he said.
“The porters carrying gear and taking great risks to help people to climb [Mount] Everest are working even harder. It’s very sobering
and it makes you question the whole thing about climbing Everest and all that.
“Tourism is Nepal’s number one money earner but we need to consider what we’re doing to the people.”
If you’re interested in the work of the Australian Himalayan Foundation, visit www.australianhimalayanfoundation.org.au/
The next trek into this region is October this year; see www.kathmandu.com.au/summit-club