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After years of trekking in the Himalayas and still being ignorant, it finally struck; a man in Osla made us understand that it is more to trekking than just conquering nameless peaks. He did not do much; he just explained to us, the conditions under which the entire village survived and it sent a shiver down our spines. Despite all the adventure seekers pouring into its lap, the villages were deprived of basic necessities required to sustain life in a healthy way. The village had no medical facilities except a tiny clinic situated 15-20 km away accessible only through a 3-hour trek followed by a 4-hour drive. As we sat there on a rock that day, we made a promise to ourselves. A promise to get back to this village with a group of people to help treat the ill. The dozens of ill people that roam around these villages waiting for a miracle to happen.
Taking into account the huge amount of trekkers and adventure seekers the Himalayas attracts every year, it pains us to realize that rarely ‘travelers’ decide to contribute towards the betterment of the mountains or the people residing in its high altitude villages. But we, at Trekmunk decided to not turn a blind eye to the situation and started an initiative we call, TREK FOR A CAUSE where we closely work with other kind hearts that are willing to contribute towards restoring the Himalayas and its people.
We recently came across this study done in a hospital on more than 100 elderly people facing death close to their last breath. They were asked to reflect on there lives the biggest regret. Nearly all of them said they regretted not the things they did, but the things they did not do.
The risks they never took;
The dreams they never pursued;
The people they did not help,
The lives they did not save’
And we asked ourselves, would our last words be ‘only if I had?’
So we don’t know much but we do know this,
When we saw how big a difference a medical camp made; when we saw an old man crying with tears of all the 7 emotions mixed into one, We realized that the only thing that matters is the impact you leave on the lives around you.
So, we humbly request you to join hands with us and volunteer towards cleaning the Himalayas, helping the village folk with education, medicine and other basic things required to sustain a healthy life.
Done and Dusted
Medical Help
Osla and Gangad are two villages in Uttrakhand, situated at approximately 9,000 ft each. These villages fall in the way of har ki dun trek which attracts hundreds of trekkers every year. Despite all the urban connection, these villages still have next to no medical facilities available except a first-aid clinic situated 15-20 km away accessible only through 3 hours of trekking followed by another 4 hours drive. The government policies pay no heed to these villagers despair, failing to even provide them with de-worming aspirins.
Trekmunk private limited organized trek for a cause initiative at Har ki dun valley for doctors who believe in this agenda too. The sole purpose to host this was to help the people residing in the villages that fall in the way by providing them with basic medical amenities and hopefully treating illnesses and Trekmunk derived no personal benefit from it. A team of six doctors medically assisted 258 people suffering from asthma, polio, tumors, cataract, skin allergies, joint pains, scabies, ulcers, and varied other physical ailments. Four medical camps were set up around the villages over a period of six days.
Agenda's
1. Medical Help
After receiving such a positive response from the last trek for a cause initiative, we decided to set up yet another round of medical camps in the same villages to provide them with regular medical facilities and aspirin. This time we plan on taking it by a notch by setting up the camp for longer duration and providing medications for all the more different kinds of illnesses and taking a larger number of doctors then what we had last time. Our future plans include setting up these medical camp every six months to ensure regular treatment for the village folk. We aim to adopt these villages for their overall development which will include health facilities, education, and other basic amenities.
2. Trash-free Himalayas
Due to the increase in the number of adventure seekers the Himalayas attract every year, the amount of waste being generated is also increasing. Worst of it, plastic. On commercial and frequently trekked upon trails, the story is even worse and sometimes, the litter is just a painful site. Wrappers of chocolates, plastic bottles, cigarette butts, sanitary pads, beverage aluminum cans and what not! The decomposition time of these things are unimaginable and the thought of all this trash lying in the mountains we worship for years and years is a sad thought. Out of the things listed above, cigarette butts take the shortest time to decompose (10-12 years) whereas plastic bags take the longest (800-1000 years). Is that the kind of impact all the self-labeled passionate trekkers are willing to leave behind?
Trekmunk, for its love of the mountains, has solemnly sworn to do something about it and hence gave birth to Mischief managed. Under that cause, we plan to do frequent treks that aim just on cleaning the trails. On top of that, we make all our trekkers sign an undertaking of a non-garbage disposal agreement, violation of which they will not be allowed to continue the trek.
Over the coming years, we plan to add more and more things to our list of agendas where we aim to adopt high altitude villages and work towards their overall development with the help of volunteers and like-minded people who find solace not just by trekking high but also, serving the people who rule those mountains.