A significant number of mountaineers from every nook and corner of the world ascend the scores of mountains in the country, including Mt Everest every year. However, only a few of them acknowledge the immense role of porters in their success. Dough Scott, 63, is one such mountaineer who wants to give the credit of their success to the porters. And, more importantly, he has been sharing his happiness with porters and their families, doing something special for the sake of them.

Scott has been showing tireless devotion and commitment to his work for long, collecting funds to run the projects that he has been operating in various parts of the country. For the purpose, Scott, a British citizen, who scaled Mt Everest in 1975, had established an NGO - Community Action Nepal (CAN) some 10 years back in England. Till date, CAN has supported as many as 40 projects focusing on the middle hills areas of the country in sectors like education, health-care and drinking water. Several new projects are in the process of getting started.

The total investment of CAN on these projects is above Rs 30 million. "I became quite popular in my country after climbing the various mountains in Nepal, including Mt Everest," said Scott, adding "I could not imagine my success without commendable help of the porters. So I am obliged to them one way or another to do something important for the sake of them." A record holder as the first British to climb Mt Everest from the south-west face, Scott has been collecting funds, giving lectures in England to run his projects.

In addition to this, he has launched Community Action Trekking (CAT), under which a large number of trekkers from England visit the country and the profits coming from it has directly gone to the CAN. Around 400 trekkers from England used to visit the country in the past through CAT. However, the number has reduced to a mere 100 this year due to Maoist insurgency. "I have encouraged as many English trekkers as possible to visit Nepal, conveying the message that it is still a safer place for foreigners to come to Nepal," he added.

Ang Chhiring Sherpa, President of Nepal Mountaineering Association, said that almost all foreign mountaineers. while being in the country, praise the brave and industrious porters, but sadly enough, their love towards the porters withers away with their return to the homeland. "And, as of now, only a few mountaineers have extended a helping hand for the sake of the porters," he lamented. "So, we have to encourage and promote CAN's initiative to reap maximum benefits on the poorer porters."

OTHER NEWS

• Buddhist pilgrims' visit may give fillip to religious tourism: Most tourists who have spent a joyous stay in Nepal have pictured this Himalayan Kingdom as a beautiful destination of dazzling mountains, splendid nature and friendly and hospitable peoples. Now, to this impressive list, Nepal can add more if this particular sojourn of Buddhists gurus concludes successfully. Prominent among the Buddhist monks in East Asian countries and a royal priest of Thailand, Abbot Shi Fa Zhao arrived here today with his counterpart, Sri Lanka's Chief Monk Buddha Rakkhita, and 165 other Buddhist followers to pay obeisance in Buddhists monasteries of the Kathmandu Valley. This, according to experts, has added new avenues of religious tourism for Nepali tourism industry.
  
  
• 'Mile-a-Minute-Weed' posing threats: The grasslands and jungles inside the Royal Chitwan National Parks and the community forests in the park's buffer zone now wear a different look. White flowers blanket the grasslands and the same white flora veils the treetops. A heartrending scene, indeed! An interesting scene that any visitor may enjoy during his/her entry to this natural World Heritage Site, the country's first gazetted national park that lies some 250 kilometers southwest from the capital city of Kathmandu. All this thanks to the "Mile a Minute Weed", an exotic crippling plant with small white flowers.
  
  
• Tectonic movement causes erosion in Himalayas research: Geologists have found that erosion in the Himalayas is actually due to the ground movement rather than the climate. The recent findings that question the effect of precipitation on the mountains on erosion in the Himalayas have been published in this month's issue of Nature, a noted science magazine. D.W Burbank, of the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of California, who headed the research in the Himalayan region, has found no significant link between precipitation and erosion in the Himalayas. The geologists have instead suggested upward tectonic (geological) movement as driving the erosion process.
  
  
• First Mountain Day award to KMTNC: Crown Prince Paras recently inaugurated the First International Mountain Day, 2003 at the Birendra International Convention Centre. The Crown Prince gave away the first Mountain Development Award, a cash prize of Rs 2 lakhs to King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation (KMTNC). Individual Letters of Appreciation and cash awards of Rs. 25,000 were also distributed to Achyut Bahadur Rajbhandari, former secretary of Forest and Soil Conservation; Birendra Bahadur Shah, Chief Conservation Officer, Department of Forest, and Ek Raj Sharma, former division chief of Forest Survey and Statistic Division.
  
  
• 'Nepal becoming self-reliant in cut flowers: Nepal is becoming self-reliant in cut flower, as just two floriculturists of Chitwan have been successful in displacing the import of cut flowers worth over Rs 10 million from India. The import of the flower came to a full stop after Narayan Sharma of Hajipur and Lok Nath Gaire of Ganjapur in Chitwan district began the commercial farming of the flower. Cut flowers are widely used during social, official, cultural ceremonies including from birthday to paying tributes. The biggest market of cut flowers is the capital city, which imports almost 80 per cent of the total consumption particularly from the two floriculturists of Chitwan.
  
  
• Tourism entrepreneurs ask to review curfew: Tourism entrepreneurs of Chitwan district have urged the government and local administration to shorten the time of curfew imposed in the district, as it has been adversely affecting the local tourism. At present, curfew in the district begins from seven in the evening and lasts till four in the morning. The early restriction in human movement in the district has not only affected the tourists visiting to the district but it has equally affected the tourists who come to visit Chitwan from other major tourist destinations.
  
  
• Cultural heritage awaits preservation: Cultural heritage of the Nepalese villages are in a state of extinction due to the lack of knowledge and preservation. It is very difficult to preserve the rich cultural heritage of the country due to the increasing encroachment of the Western culture in the name of modernization and attraction of the youths to the alien culture.
  
  
• Porters resume work along Everest trekking route: Porters who had earlier been disallowed from undertaking work along the Sagarmatha (Everest) trekking route due to a ban, allegedly called by the Maoists, are now back at work again after receiving the green signal from the Maoists. Hundreds of porters carry goods along the famous trekking route from Jiri of Dolakha district to Sagarmatha. The loads mostly comprise consumer goods, tourists' luggages and construction materials. Supposed Maoists' warning to porters not to carry goods from Nunthal, along the trekking route, had left porters and businessmen alike, high and dry. Trekkers take a week and porters 10 days to cover the route.

By Hari Shrestha, Resident Representative in Kathmandu