Giving Back
Responsible Travel and Giving Back
I have always been a firm believer in responsible and sustainable travel and am passionate about not just taking from, but giving back, to communities that give us so much.
Travel and tourism is one of the largest industries on the planet and employs millions of people worldwide. However, many of the countries we travel to, particularly in the Himalaya, have very fragile environments and life often depends on quite simple things like cultivating the land to provide food. Any upset in the balance of the eco system, such as a change in climate or overuse of water can have a huge impact on small relatively self-sufficient communities.
Over the many years I have been in the Himalaya I have helped set up and run many small-scale projects in remote communities which provide help and support. Teaching skills, involving villagers, and providing materials is what I believe can help change lives in small but significant ways. As a woman myself, empowering women is especially important to me and I have had the pleasure of working with many women’s groups over the years.
In another post I will talk more about what responsible travel means to me. Below are just some of the projects I have initiated and been involved with over my years in the Himalaya. Many have been funded by the Himalayan Community Support fund through the Exodus Foundation.
Women’s Eco Cafes and felted handicrafts in Ladakh
In the summer months when tourists trek in Ladakh, many of the local women’s groups set up tea tents selling cold bottled drinks, tea, snacks and knitted items. These tea tents are a welcome rest for trekkers but there was a huge problem with plastic bottles and other waste being taken into a mountain environment and often left there. With three local women’s groups in the Markha Valley (a popular trekking route) and help from the local wildlife wardens and a youth volunteer group the women agreed not to sell drinks in plastic bottles. With our help the women set up small Eco Cafes, which would sell locally made food and drink. Organic south Indian coffee was provided and cafetieres and nice mugs and the women taught how to make coffee. Fresh apricot juice made from Ladakhi dried apricots and lemon mint water is now sold instead of fizzy drinks in plastic bottles. The women were taught how to do both flat and needle felting, and they make needle felted snow leopards, yaks and blue sheep to sell to trekkers. These sell much better than the gloves and socks knitted without a patter that did not fit anyone. I have provided felting needles to many women’s groups so they can make the handicrafts in the quiet winter months.
Water pipes and Smokeless stoves in Nepal
Many women in villages across the Himalaya spend a lot of their time every day collecting water and wood every day. By providing cement for water tanks, water pipe and taps water can be brought closer to a house. I have been involved in making this happen for several villages in Nepal. The villagers provide labour for free, and we provide the materials – the result is that people have easy access to a water tap which saves time and energy mostly for the women of the village and provides a safe source of drinking water.
Many village homes in Nepal still cook on an open wood fire inside the house. The smoke produced is very bad for health and this is an inefficient way of using wood which is often a scarce resource. A small inexpensive smokeless stove with a pipe that takes the smoke outside can replace an open fire. This means less wood needs to be used and the smoke leaves the house via a chimney so is better for health. Placed correctly in a room, the family can still sit round the fire and chat in the evenings but now in a safer way. Almost 200 of these have been donated to small communities over the years.
Solar Cookers
Fuel is often scarce in the Himalaya and yet the sun is strong, so it makes sense to use the power of the sun. In Nepal one of the projects I have been involved with is donating solar cookers which boil water quickly and they can also cook rice and other foods and therefore save wood.
Tree planting
Deforestation has been and still is a problem in many Himalayan communities. One of the very first projects I was involved with is in Nepal where I helped set up a small tree nursery in the upper Annapurna region. In Ladakh I am involved in a project to plant thousands of fruit trees. Hopefully when fully grown these will provide fruit which in turn can provide an income for the families who tend the trees.
Freedom kitbags
I have had the opportunity recently to be involved with this great project for women in Nepal. Usually menstruation is not spoken about and many women are shunned every month and miss out on school and work due to having a period. A Freedom kit bag contains washable pads, pad holders, panties, a waterproof bag for used pads, soap and washing line all in a pretty carrying case. These are then distributed mostly in remote areas together with training for the whole village in period health management, sexual and reproductive health. The bags are made in Kathmandu and provide jobs and sewing rooms are now been set up in villages to allow women to make their own kitbags in the future.
Disaster Relief
Natural disasters occur from time to time when urgent help is needed. The floods in Ladakh in 2010 and 2015 and the devastating earthquake in Nepal in 2015 had huge impacts on lives in Himalayan communities. The many clients I have trekked with (plus many hundreds of other trekkers and travellers), have always responded to these disasters immediately and with a generosity that is astounding, and this has allowed help to be provided immediately and ongoing. After the earthquake in Nepal the company I work for raised a fantastic amount, which allowed me to spend almost a year helping our local staff rebuild lives and homes that had been destroyed in the earthquake. As well as providing help to rebuild houses we rebuilt schools, planned and ran a medical camp and built a health centre.
Over the years I have been involved in the initiation and organisation of many other small-scale projects and both Ladakh and Nepal. I have been able to do this due to the immense generosity of clients who have the same passion as myself for the Himalaya and the people who live there. I will always be thankful that they share my passion and vision for small scale projects that make a huge difference to lives in remote communities.