Help Carry the Load: Supporting the human rights of porters, sherpas and guides.

Picture what it would be like to stand on the summit of your personal Everest. A dizzying mixture of exhaustion, pride and sheer awe bursting from your core with such brilliance, that it could rival the sunset.

Amanda Daflos of the International Mountain Explorers Connection invites us to imagine that same scenario through another's eyes.

"Picture yourself carrying a 50 lb load over an 18,000-foot pass wearing only rubber sandals, cotton trousers and a thin jacket," writes Daflos. "Imagine there being no provision for your safety if you fall, or succumb to altitude or cold."

"The majority of porters are not the famous Sherpas who carry loads at altitude for foreign climbing expeditions, but they are impoverished sustenance farmers who travel from lower elevations to trekking and expedition routes in search of work. Porters who are fortunate enough to find work struggle to earn $3-$5 a day to help clothe and feed their families. Their incredible strength in the face of such difficult work has led to the myth that porters are immune to cold and altitude related ailments. Contrary to this myth, many porters suffer from altitude sickness, hypothermia, snow blindness and frostbite."

I have been fortunate to have some amazing guides and mentors on my treks. Though I do not use porters, as a former Parks Interpreter, I used to imagine the lives of guides to be somewhat like mine: physically demanding but paid for in the privilege of experiencing the world's most precious landscapes on the daily. I was shocked and shamed to learn the danger of reading situations through the lens of my own learning. The flip flops and uncomfortable looking contraptions strapped to the foreheads and backs of the porters that passed were not symbols for me to contemplate stoic perseverance and the triumph of human effort, but emblems of the human rights abuses structured into tourism's shadow side.

Responsible Travel reports that in many places, like Peru, porters are often treated extremely poorly. "We are victims of a mixture of abuses, discrimination and attacks on our basic human rights," explains one advocate and guide. "The wages we receive don't match the physical effort we put in, and take advantage of our need to work. Even though the tour operators are meant to offer us equipment like sleeping bags and waterproofs, they don't. This means we have to sleep outside on the rocky floor, or improvise our own shelter out of branches, or sleep in caves. We often don't have the most basic equipment such as raincoats, harnesses or ropes, so each porter has to make do in the most uncomfortable conditions.” Similar reports stream in from the Everest Base Camp, Mount Kilimanjaro, Borneo's Mount Kinabalu, and Bhutan's Snowman Trek.

Researcher Martha Honey compiled all the codes of conducts across porter advocacy groups and summarized their requests with this list:

The Rights of Porters and Guides:

To receive basic skills and safety training.
Hired through formal, written (or in some cases verbal) contract, starting terms of employment, rights, and responsibilities.
Direct communication should be established with porters and porters should be involved in decision-making and, where they exist, porters associations should be utilized.
Medical, accident, and life insurance for duration of trek provided by ground agents.
Creation of specific emergency fund to pay for porters to be evacuated and treated in case o sickness or accident.
To a stable and fair basic wage, plus free food and accommodation.
To be provided appropriate equipment, clothing, and sleeping tents for each stage of a trek.
Set maximum load that is checked daily and cannot be exceeded during the trek.
To fair and humane treatment by company and clients.
To complete trek, even though loads may get lighter on descent.
To receive tips directly from clients.
Clients should be given detailed pre-trek information on porters.
Report instances of neglect or abuse to International Porter Protection Group

What Trekkers can do:

Investigate tour operators in advance. If they do not meet Honey's list of rights or Peak Experiences' list of responsibilities, do not travel with them. Organisations like Tourism Concern in the UK, IMEC in the USA and Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project in Tanzania have ethical codes of conduct for companies. Their websites can guide you to good outfitter options.

Check that porters are paid a fair wage for their work and location and given their intended tips. Wages should be in line with, or higher than, the local average to counter the seasonal nature of the work and encourage reliable porters to return.

Ask the company:

Are provisions are made for porters' food and accommodation? Otherwise these basic needs come out of their wages.
What is your health care policy for porters? The International Porter Protection Group suggests "sick porters should be sent down with someone who speaks their language and understands their illness along with a letter describing their complaint." Sufficient funds should be provided to cover the cost of their rescue and treatment. They should never be sent down alone. Porters should be provided with the same standard of medical care, as you would expect for yourself, including insurance.
Does the company provide porters with equipment? Like tents, protective clothing, carrying equipment and kerosene.
What is the maximum carrying limit? If a company does not communicate a weight limit for trekkers, it is not a good outfitter. A maximum of 10 kg or 22 lbs is advised by most advocacy groups.