source: Discovery chhanel
THE SHERPAS
there are still many people who think that to be a Sherpa means Porte, rather than a member of a distinct ethnic group. ''How long have you been a Sherpa?'' is a question that is frequently asked of Sherpas who venture outside of their own country. It is true that Sherpas first came to be known to the western world through their remarkable help in getting mountaineering expeditions to the high summits of the Himalayas. Yet Sherpas do other things besides carry loads and climb mountains. Sherpas are members of an ethnic group that has been living in the mountainous regions of northern Nepal for several centuries. Their name in Tibetan means ''people from the east'', and it is generally assumed that they came here from eastern Tibet during the 16th century. They were able to make a living in this inhospitable environment by balancing a commercial and agrarian way of life, rising of yaks (and the yak-cow crossbreed, zopkio or dzum) x as well as trading with their former homeland. After they became officially incorporated inside the borders of the political state of Nepal, the northernmost Khumbu Sherpas were granted the exclusive privilege of carrying trade goods over the Nangpa La, one of the few accessible routes to Tibet. This, and the introduction of the potato, gave them and their Sherpa neighbors in solu to the south a degree of wealth that allowed them to establish monasteries and, for many families, to develop a relatively prosperous lifestyle.
However, the Chinese invasion of Tibet in the 1950s ended this long-standing way of life. The border closed down and hundreds if not thousands of Tibetan refugees streamed over the Nangpa la into the Sherpa homeland. Some Tibetans stayed behind to become leading citizens in the Sherpa community but most moved farther south. Yet luck and an innate adaptability and resilience of char same time that the Tibetan trade was cut off, Nepal's borders were opened to foreigners and westerners were beginning to discover the joys of first ascent of mount Everest in 1953 (tenzing norgay, originally from thame, a village in the khumbu, was one of the first two climbers to set foot on the summit), and continued to excel in this role in the many climbing expedition that have followed. Starting with a handful of adventurers in the 1950s and 1960s, trekking has mushroomed into an activity that brings some 20000 visitors from all over the world to the Sherpa homeland each year. Sherpas remain in deman not just for their climbing prowess but also for their renowned loyalty and friendly demeanor.
The influx of trekkers and climbers has had its brought a new prosperity to the Sherpas: many homes have been converted into lodges or tea houses, most able-boiled Sherpas can find work in trekking crews, and almost every Sherpa family has come to depend in one way or another on the trekking industry. While some rich foreigners have helped their Sherpa friends build large hotels or start trekking companies, others have funded schools, medical stations, and projects designed to conserve the Sherpa environment.
However, probably the most important change is the conversion of the Sherpa world from what was largely a barter economy to a money economy, and with it a concomitant disruption of their traditional social patterns. With the increase in tourism, many Sherpas have become dollar millionaires, and have moved into more high-profile careers, including politics. at the same time, the center of authority has in many ways moved outside the area. Sagarmatha national park, established with the help of new Zealanders in the 1960s, has taken control of the forests out of local hands. Katmandu, where most trekking companies have their headquarters and hire their crews, has become a dominant focus for Sherpa life, with many moving there for part or all of the year. The construction, with Austrian help, of a hydroelectric plant in the khumbu has given a new look to many of its villages. One of them, Namche Bazar, now boasts a launderette, disco and cinema, as well as the world's highest Internet cafe. Many young Sherpas are now being drawn by the attractions of a larger world beyond even the big city: the United States, Japan, India or the Middle East.
There is, also the inherent risk involved with the sport of mountaineering, and the Sherpas are at the front of the queue if disaster strikes. as the late sir Edmund Hillary commented: '' while foreign expedition members waited in their tents for the next thrust forward up the mountain, Sherpas were relaying loads backward and forward up the slopes. They were constantly in peril. Many died in crevasses, in avalanches and in tumbles down the mountainsides.''
Trekkers who visit he homeland of the Sherpas often worry about the possible negative impact they and their fellow trekkers may be having on the Sherpas and their way of life. even way back in 1950, Charles Houston, who, with bill Tillman, could claim to be one of the first trekkers to set foot in the Humbu, was concerned about the ''damage we might have set in train for this innocent, backward country. We were all sad, knowing that this was the end of something unique and wild, and the beginning of a period of great danger and immense change for this wonderful land.''
yet, as noted above, the Sherpas are wonderfully adaptable and at the same time resilient. They may, many of them, now be wearing western dress, dancing to western music, or browsing the internet on western computers or mobile phones, but, as anyone who deals with them knows, they are made of the same stuff as the ancestors who worked with the Sherpas for half a century and devoted much of his life to helping them, found them ''cheerful, hard-working, agreeable and lacking in any sense of inferiority...the warmth and hospitality remain...they introduce you so readily into their culture and religion; they ask so little from you except politeness and friendship; they laugh so easily at your jokes and their own.''
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