SOLUTION
To empower the porters, we must think boldly. We are working actively with our partners to more precisely understand the problems impacting these people and where we can make the biggest difference. We have one initiative underway and two more in the planning stages.
Initiative #1 - Upskilling
To help the porters achieve a better quality of life, we can enable them to be upskilled. Specifically, their salary can quadruple with certain classes.
As discussed on the Problem page, a normal porter makes $10 per day which doesn't afford them many basic comforts. However, a porter who undergoes English education will be paid $20 per day. These classes cost $200. Furthermore, a porter who gets first responder training will be paid $40 per day. These classes cost $500.
So in total, for a porter to increase their salary to $40 per day, they have to pay $700. Now that's A LOT of money.
Initiative #2 - Develop a Harness
I want to help address bigger and more complex challenges, such as the wear and tear on the porters' bodies caused by carrying heavy loads on their heads day after day. Carrying large loads on the head causes a huge strain on a porter’s spine, which negatively affects cervical lordosis or the spine’s curvature and alignment.
To address this problem, I want to create a piece of gear, something that looks like a harness that lies against the spine, that can hopefully help a porter maintain a better posture and thus reduce the risk of reverse cervical lordosis. There are products like Thumplines, which connect the head to the lower back but are really meant to help people carry bigger loads on their backs, but nothing exists based on my research to help folks like poor porters with carrying loads on their heads.
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As I have looked more into this, I believe this can be the solution for an even bigger global issue. I have seen many laborers in India and other third-world countries carry bricks, cement, vegetables, water, and other things on their heads. Solving this problem for porters can help all these people too!
Initiative #3 - Education for Kids (TBD)
The details of this initiative are still being planned. The idea is that the public schools are not great in the area surrounding the mountain. However, the porters do not have enough disposable income to pay for private school for their kids. We want to invest in programs to help their children get educated.