I am so thankful to the over 37 donors and enumerable supporters of the project to get Mane and the other families electrical power to their portion of the village in Nepal.  The trek to Everest was all about me and my goals and my dreams. But along the way, I got to see a broader perspective. The people of Nepal, though it sounds trite, really were engaging and uplifting. And none more than the mountain peoples that we encountered and those who worked for Mountain Madness as porters, cooks, guides and Sherpa to support our dream of going to Mount Everest Base Camp.  I have spoken a lot about Mane and all he did for me along the trail. He has a good life. Just much harder than anything we encounter here with our standard of living. I am not talking about poverty when I talk about Mane. I am talking about a life in a remote region where the terrain and the resources equate to no roads or vehicles. Not many good paying jobs. Not much in the way of running water or electricity. No grocery stores or drive throughs. Every place you go you do it on foot or a horse if you have one. remember, they have to eat too. What they can raise to eat, they do. They farm and the men go off to

A Woman’s Work is Never Done

porter, be sherpas or guides and the woman care for the children. Though they are just as hardy, portering everything they need in baskets held by their foreheads.

Kate is staying at Dawa’s house. She is my English speaking contact for the facilitation of the Electrical Power Project. She is also helping Mane learn English as he is also staying at Dawa’s in Lukla right now. It is a three day walk from Dawa’s to Mane’s village. Dawa lives at about 9,300 feet of elevation and Mane’s village, also in the Solokhumbu region of Nepal, is somewhere between 6,000 feet and 9,000 feet. It is difficult to find any data on the internet to tell me just how high it is.

Of the 35,000 Sherpa that live in Nepal, about 5,000 of them live in the Solokhumbu. The name of the village is Khoriya (खोरिया).  The village is small and has power to most of it. Soon, with the assistance of all of those who have come together to assist, Mane and the remaining 5 families will also have power. It will change their lives and make some things much easier.

As this project is heating up and I am in almost daily communication with Kate, I am also going to be helping Mane and Dawa with their English classes. English is a ticket to better jobs, more responsibility and as a result, a better standard of living for their families. For what amounts to a few cups of coffee a month, these guys will have access to the tools they need to make better lives for themselves. Kate tells

Truckers of the Himalayas. If it gets to a village, it was brought in like this!

me that Mane is one of the hardest working people she has seen At most everything he does. Yesterday she reported that he spent two hours after work studying and working on his English and wanted to do more! He is so excited about what we are doing. Thanks to everyone! I will report back with more news when it is available!