Less Than $1.00 a Day and Some Rice

What does it cost to climb a trekking peak in the Langtang area of Nepal if you are from the West? Airfare is roughly $1,500.00, the normal cost of the trek to the start of your climb is around $500.00, the fee for your climbing permit is perhaps $200 and then there is the $2,000.00 or some odd dollars spent on equipment like Gore-tex clothing, a down jacket, plastic boots, crampons and so forth. Let's just use some rounding here and agree that it is nearly $5,000.00 US.

Consider that you have traveled nearly 10,000 miles, spent 24 hours on planes, 4 days hiking and nearly $5,000.00 to bag your peak. Does it make any sense to under pay your porters, without whom you simply would not be making this climb, by less than a dollar and a cup of rice a day? This exact scenario happens all the time and on my last trip to Nepal I witnessed it firsthand.

I was walking on the Langtang trek above Syabru Bensi. I came across a boy, maybe 16 years old. He was obviously very tired and very thirsty. He did not have a water bottle nor food of any kind.

What caught my eye was the enormous load he was carrying in a very odd sort of backpack. This boy had four metal crates stacked one atop the other, all full, and attached to his body by a strap running over his forehead. He was in obvious pain under such a load.

The boy needed to earn money to continue his education in Kathmandu. He had hired himself on as a porter that morning in Sybru Bensi as part of a crew hauling loads up the valley for two men from the UK who were there to climb a trekking peak. The boy did not know how much he was being paid for this brutal work, but did know it didn't include food. Most importantly he knew that if he didn't take the job there were plenty of men and boys who would.

Surendra and I each took a part of the boys load and headed for Bamboo Lodge, the next village up the trail. At Bamboo I found the guide that employed this boy resting in the shade and enjoying his lunch. I dropped my part of the load at his feet, announcing that he owed me a partial days wage as a porter and asking how much he intended to pay me for taking the load the rest of the way up the trail. The startled guide did understand enough English, not to mention body language, to get the gist of the conversation.

Surendra helped with translation and asked a great many questions of the guide in Nepali. This guide, as it turns out, works for a well-known and supposedly reputable trekking agency in Kathmandu. The agency frequently uses, MF member agency, International Mountain Explorers Connection’s (IMEC) clothing bank and claims to subscribe to the IMEC recommendations for fair porter treatment. The IMEC guidelines are; maximum load of 30 kilos, pay of 300 rupees (a shade over $4.00) per day and food. The boy we had met was carrying around 50, perhaps even 60 kilos, for 250 rupees and no food. He was being shorted by 50 rupees a day and a cup of rice, in addition to carrying a back-breaking amount of weight.
I went next to the trekkers who had hired the guide and asked if they knew that their porters were overloaded and underpaid. In an indifferent tone they told me that they'd look into adding one more porter but wouldn't interfere with wage agreements between the guide and the porters.

Later, I would ask Surendra how this could happen. He told me that it isn't unusual for the guide to skim off the porters pay by 50 rupees. The trekking agent thinks he is paying 300 rupees but if the guide can get a boy to carry the load for only 250 rupees he can pocket the rest and increase his own pay. Likewise he can pocket the food money for the porters.
So, who is to blame for this sort of exploitation? The guide? Sure, he knows better and is deliberately taking advantage of the situation to enrich himself. The trekking agent back in Kathmandu? Also guilty, since the agent should find out what the guide does once he leaves the office. How about the trekkers? I deem them most guilty of all. Why? They have the money, hence they are in control of the entire process. Everyone involved is working for them and they have the power to dictate the terms of that employment.

Proud, Tough and Vulnerable - those are the words on an IMEC porter poster we see just one more days hike up this trail. Yes, porters are all three of those. What they are more than anything is vulnerable though. Nepal is a country where most people live on about $1.00 a day. If a man (or boy) won't carry 100 lbs of gear for $4.00 a day, there is a line of poor men who will. As the people with the power of the gold (money) we have the responsibility to protect our employees (the porters) from exploitation.

When trekking and hiring porters take the time to inquire about your porters’ work. Does the pay include food? How much weight will be carried? Do the porters have appropriate clothing for the job? You traveled a long way to take a once in a lifetime trip, please don't beat the locals out of less than a dollar a day and a cup of rice while there.

Surendra, who began life in the trekking business as a porter is having a hard time lifting this load. I tried it myself and was only able to stand up with a huge effort. This load was in the 100 lb range. The small man in the right of the photo will carry that load all day, everyday, uphill for four days on a hard trail. He will do it in sandals as well, and for around $4.00 a day. He should at least be fed as well, but on this trip sadly he'll have to buy his own food.

Thanks to Anna Pettigrew for the photo.