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Does anyone know of a charity that takes over spare (old) hiking gear to give to the porters in the Himalayas?
My girlfriend and I loved our time there a few years back and would love to donate some of our unused hiking gear to help out the porters (most of whom have very little in the way of mountain wear!)
Some is battered ie old shoes, but other stuff is in real good nick.
I was going to send you to Porters Progress, been to a bunch of fundraising film nights and climbing presentations at the Royal Geographical Society, and I've got a couple of bits I was going to send their way myself, but it seems they've had to call it a day
https://www.portersprogressuk.org/
Couple of partner organisations listed on that page. Otherwise, try and contact Simone Moro, he might have some ideas.
http://www.simonemoro.com/?q=en/content/contacts
Hmm maybe I'll try getting in touch with one of the Lakes based Everest guides....I'll drop you a message if I have any joy.
Please do!
I remember giving my boots to the porter's progress in Lukla at the end of a 3 week trek and them being grateful as they can fix them locally.
Do the economics of sending 2nd hand kit out to Nepal really add up though? Might you be better ebaying and donating? I may be wrong as I know vast amounts of 2nd hand clothing sent to charity shops gets sent by the container load to less well of countries.
A good charity to donate to is Community Action Nepal as championed by Doug Scott and other famous mountaineers. They do a lot of good work in Nepal and have people on the ground there so not just rich westerner thinks you need this type of charity.
https://www.canepal.org.uk
There’s no way any gear you donate in this country will make onto the bodies of porters in Nepal - there’s simply too much corruption and bureaucracy between you and them. A good charity organisation will sell it for the best price and use the money to benefit them, especially now no one’s getting in or out of Nepal.
My preferred place to donate after a trip is the International Porter Protection Fund:
But even though they, who run clinics in the Khumbu directly, seem to have been shafted by graft locally.
Hmm....I'm going to do some emailing and research tomorrow.....I'll update.
Be interested to see what you find out. I seem to remember seeing projects by all 3 of the above charities being on the ground in Nepal although this was 12 years ago. Unfortunately Nepal does suffer from a lot of corruption as well as poverty but it also has a lot of great people and I expect any of the charities above will do their best to use any donations wisely.
If anyone wants a different thing to donate to in Nepal I support a small rural school in Nepal where I know every penny you give will go into the school. £100 is a years education for one child. Education has effects that carry on through generations. PM me if you want details
This is an interesting thread, I'll definitely be checking back.
I must have 20 tech tees from races last year, that I never wear, any idea of anywhere that'll use them? no much point taking them to charity shop really.
I think the costs would be too much to send it over unfortunately. I biked round the Annapurna a couple of years ago and took a load of gear out to hand over directly to one of the porters charities in Thamel. Maybe try Doug Scott to see if he has any suggestions or Tim Mosedale based in Keswick. Good luck.
Sorry guys, been really slack on this....having a chaotic and crap time workwise currently.
Some great links, one that I've followed up have had to stop due to Covid, and it really does seem that cash is king at the minute....they don't seem to currently need gear as the trekking season is cancelled!
Another interesting thing that I did read was that lots of gear for westerners won't fit them as we're bigger than the average porter. At 5 10 and <70kg I was still bigger than most I saw come to think of it!
One of my happiest travelling days was having an impromptu disco on the top of the Renjo La dancing to Ladyy Gaga with a load of porters, sharing out a Toblerone with them all which seemed to suprise them as on their wages probably a too expensive a treat. We got hit by a blizzard and they made sure I could follow them on the right trail to the teahouse. Spent that night teaching them to play the card game spoons which turned into a bit of a good natured riot of excitement. Great fun.
If you want to donate gear to a decent cause, Gift Your Gear provides outdoor kit to needy youth groups, community organisations and similar. Good guys, decent cause.
Donating gear to Nepal has always been problematic, the logistics of getting it out there are messy ime. I did manage to freight a bunch of stuff to a climbing Sherpa I got to know when I was out there trekking, but it wasn't easy.