A mighty climb for charity

Gareth Jones fills us in on his adventure to Everest base camp.

Visiting a local school in Namche Bazaar - a small Sherpa town 3500m high in the Himalayas. Boys in the river sifting for gold teeth in cremation remains. The local health worker’s office.

In November 2006 I embarked on the toughest challenge I’ve ever undertaken - I started a 20-day charity trek to Everest Base Camp. For the 18 months leading up to the trek I gathered as many people as possible to help raise over £4000 for WaterAid. The strap line of my small fundraising campaign was ‘Change The World Now’.

This was my first trip to a developing country. The experience made me appreciate the things we often take for granted at home – clean water, medicine, electricity and so on. The sad thing is, despite campaigning to Make Poverty History for the last 18 months, I still felt quite helpless.

At many points I felt embarrassed to show any sign of personal wealth. I found that giving money to beggars only encouraged more begging, and other beggars asking: “why can you give to him and not to me?” I saw examples of poverty everywhere: boys in the river sifting for gold teeth in cremation remains, child prostitutes in the bars, and the poor condition of the local health worker’s office. I guess it’s not always easy to see a clear solution to poverty.

The journey to Base Camp was tough at best, but I found the Nepalese to be some of the kindest, most hardworking and trustworthy people I’ve ever met. For example, on one acclimatisation day a few of us took a visit to a local school in Namche Bazaar - a small Sherpa town 3500m high in the Himalayas. It would be an injustice to describe the experience as anything other than special. I found it incredibly rewarding to see children aged 5-9 so enthusiastic about going to school 7 days a week.

The heights were incredible - if you haven’t been at altitudes above 5000m, then trust me you feel awful. Despite my best efforts to stave off an increasing diarrhoea rate amongst my fellow travellers, I fell ill on the way down. The team doctor put me on a drip in Namche Bazaar to re-hydrate. Medicine was not widely available in that area so it really made me appreciate how easy we have it in the UK.

I came away from my trek wondering why so many people are obsessed with a mountain when there are tons of more important challenges in life. I was nevertheless ecstatic that I had eventually surpassed my original fundraising target.

"I have climbed my mountain, but I must still live my life" said Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa that helped George Mallory become one of the first people to conquer Everest. For me, returning to my life means getting busy campaigning again, and embracing Razorlight’s statement at Live 8: 'If we can make enough noise, then we can make them listen.’ My New Year’s resolution is to start making lots of noise. I’ve already emailed my MP to wish him Happy New Year and I have told him to expect to hear from me more in 2007.