You know sherpas use yaks in the Himalayas to carry the heavy loads and as old age hits the yaks. We sherpa tie a red ribbon on the yaks and release them in the wilderness of Khumbu. I found this to be symbolic as my grandfather’s yak after years of being released came back into his farm before the yak died in the lap of my grandpa. What a story I thought? These beautiful stories are everywhere in the corner of normal houses to the minds of people just walking by you. Just like the mysterious Yeti these stories remain just a thought before it is lost in the faults of memories.
Nepals government is like the government you see in Narcos like Columbia and bribery, corruption and negligence for its people are everywhere. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council's annual research report, Nepal's tourism sector generated revenue of NPR 240.7 billion. Even with all that revenue the Nepali government still hasn’t been able to provide it’s people anything. Think about this, sidewalks are practically non existent to the poorly designed city of Kathmandu. Nepal is in a very active fault zone and earthquakes are pretty common like the one in 2015 where it killed close to 9000 people. You know why, because there aren’t any zoning laws or even adequate roads where people could run to safety. All the streets are narrow and buildings touching one another. This is just the start. Nepals government with all that money has not been able to do anything adequately. Think about this instead of spending money on a campaign to bring more people to the country. What about this, you clean the streets, you make the city hospitable for the people who live there and the craziest of all what about not give the people lung cancer. Some might say this is not the government’s fault but they have done nothing and the officials are only concerned about putting money in their pocket. the representatives that claim to help people only plan on making airports and new infrastructure to put money into their pockets and seem like they’re doing something. The same representatives court with china to make deals like building roads for Nepal and act like they are spending the tax money rather than pocketing it. These same politicians put all that money in their pockets and market their new projects which starts but never finishes. again that campaign they spent so much money promoting Nepal to foreigners, what has it even done. In fact it was such a poorly timed campaign in the midst of a pandemic. what about spending money on how cleaning the streets of Nepal and stopping the dust storms. Nepal is not even in a desert yet the government hasn’t done anything to stop the dust storms. Think about this, it doesn’t affect them as they drive in their nice cars where the majority of the people cannot even afford one. They are driving in their Mercedes as the normal people are having to wear masks and can’t even enjoy a nice day outside. There was a time when my grandparents and I would walk around Kathmandu without a mask and there wouldn’t be any dust in the air. But times have changed for the worse. Kathmandu is a perfect example the place where all the politicians meet and look what they did. The government will never do anything for the better of it’s people in Nepal. Everyone knows the officials are corrupt but why do we continue with them. Why do we let them do what they have been doing. The city is falling apart, the roads are crumbled the air is polluted and the ground has become the most polluted city on earth. The nepalis in foreign lands, how can we continue to tell others “Nepal is one of the most beautiful country” when our own families and friends are trying to run away from the country to other countries. Look I have been very critical because it makes me mad what the city has become while all other countries have progressed to new heights. Being a poor country is no excuse. Look at Bhutan it’s smaller than Nepal and Nepal’s GDP is 15 times larger than Bhutan but the people are happy and it’s leading all other countries in air quality and pollution. Bhutan is one of the only country that is carbon negative. The comparison is crazy so please the state of Nepal is not normal and we shouldn’t just accept what these corrupt politicians have done to our beautiful country. There’s so much the country could do better but let's start by having a country where people can actually live.
31 Aug 2020
The Mountaineering industry
Hey there this week I wanted to try something new. Instead of writing a script I wanted to write an outline and just let my thoughts go on, but even though this is not my ideal result. Failure is part of learning, although I'm not the proudest with this episode. I would rather publish this or be stuck in analysis paralysis.
This episode I will talk about the mountaineering industry and how the Nepali government is robbing the sherpas of their hard earned living. Although some sherpas earn a lot, most sherpas only make close to $3000 climbing everest every season. The nepali government on the other hand makes close to $9,800,000 dollars which sherpas only receive $400 as life insurance if they die. Think about that Nepali government profits off sherpas by up-charging foreigners for permits and not sharing that pie with the sherpas. Sherpas have to actually risk their lives as the government officials are scamming the western climbers. The $11,000 dollars per climber for permit costs is a mystery that the sherpas want to know and deserve to have better compensations as the Everest industry is the main money maker in Nepal. Every sherpas who climb everest deserve a decent wage, retirement fund/pension, life insurance and good health insurance.
24 Aug 2020
The Sherpa Identity
Back to back sherpa is used everywhere with little to no consideration of the many sherpas that are living as orphans of mountaineering accidents or even continue to climb mountains as they need to earn money to feed their families. There are also many businesses and companies that use our last name to promote their business as a guide to the world of some sorts. Like Sherpa snacks, or a insurance firm that uses the word sherpaa with two a’s and the craziest thing is, it’s not even owned by sherpas or there aren’t even any sherpa employees. As perfectly stated in a medium article by Sofie Broznowski (https://medium.com/@broznowski.sofie?source=follow_footer--------------------------follow_footer-) “Branding by companies normalizes and institutes racism by oblivious climbers and tourists. Who expect the Sherpa to help with their every need, and when this is not possible, are easily angered and indignant” Please stop this pandemic of robbing our last names. But you know what the most angering thing was. In the movie sherpa that is about the 2014 disaster where close to 16 sherpas died. There is this climber who goes as far as to ask “can’t we talk to your owners?”, about continuing the climb (Peedom)” what owners what the hell is this. you know I am currently in the Air Force where the day I sewed on the name sherpa on my military uniform was one of the proudest days of my life. I didn’t know I had a owner. It is deeply saddening to see my last name being torn down by all this bigotry. The military tells us that when our last names are printed on our uniforms, It is not the one individual you are representing but the name of your family. That is why you don’t have your first name but rather your family name. In every situation I have tried to represent my family name in the best way. But as my family left the mountains to pursue a better future for me, I see a mountain in front of me filled with the bigotry and ignorance of those normal people around all of us that leaves no respect for the family name we worked so hard for.
17 Aug 2020
Yak&Yeti Trailer
Hey there! Welcome to YakandYeti
Let's talk about all kinds of stories and issues. Join me every week to hear stories, ideas and issues pertaining to all different kinds of people. We will shed light on stories that go ignored and dive deeper into issues that should be talked about more. From issues like the limbo of International students to the crisis of the sherpa identity, our stories will swing in all directions and hopefully we will all learn something good from this.
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