Food Supplies for Trek Staff

Distributing emergency food and health supplies to guides and others in Ladakh

The pandemic brought devastation rippling throughout many communities, with people lacking access to essential healthcare services. Alongside the ongoing health impacts, people across the Himalayan communities we know so well were struggling in the face of an almost two-year hiatus in tourism income. Local guides, cooks, pony men, drivers, storekeepers and others in the area struggled to find ways to feed their families.

Our local operator used our Community Kickstart grant to prepare parcels which provided a supply of essential food and health supplies for two months, to distribute to 21 of the trekking staff across Ladakh, who would – in normal times – be working with us to take our customers on amazing treks across the Himalaya. The parcels included cooking essentials such as rice, flour, cooking oil, sugar, tea leaves, Dal, salt and spices, and COVID personal protective equipment, such as hand sanitiser and medical face masks. 

Chapel, our Exodus Tour Leader in Ladakh was quick to comment:

“This last year has been very difficult for us. Many of our local staff rely on the extra income from tourism. Tourism usually picks up only in the summer months, and summer 2019 was the last time many of our staff earned any income. Luckily, Exodus ran their snow leopard trip back in February 2020 where members of our staff could earn some much-needed income. Since then, however, tourism has stopped once more so no one has made any further income and we’ve not received government support”. He continues, “We are thankful however for the continuing support from the Exodus Foundation. This funding will help our local staff feed their families. We now have another lockdown in India and things do not look hopeful for a return of tourism in summer, but we are keeping positive and safe and look forward to seeing our Exodus clients in the future.”

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