Who carries the load?

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

PAKISTAN | Monday, 14 January 2013 | Views [1645] | View Larger Image

Three friends relax together in a shelter on the Baltoro glacier. Away from their families for weeks at a time, the men sleep in crude stone shelters with plastic sheeting for a ceiling, sleeping huddled together under old sleeping backs for warmth.

During a break, porters eat a typical meal of chapatti and tea. The grueling work at high altitude means adequate nutrition is extremely important. Foreign clients are served three hot meals a day and snacks but the porters prefer to save their food allowance and subside on a diet of unleavened bread and black tea.

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Gholan, an expedition cook, is used to a tough life. The men have simple aspirations, such as to earn enough to send their children to school. However their jobs exact a toll. Beyond the risk of death or injury, the men also suffer chronic illnesses from working at high altitude with inadequate nutrition or equipment. Much of this danger and discomfort could be obviated if clients insisted that the porters be supplied with basic levels of food, clothing and shelter.

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Who carries the load?

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

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