3 SUMMITS
NEPAL
Nepal is a mountainous country situated between India and China. Though a small country, it contains 8 of the 10 highest mountains in the world and is rich in beauty and culture, but life can be quite hard in the high mountainous
areas.
JWALANT
Jwalant Gurung is a native Nepali from the Gurung ethnic group. Though his parents started out with nothing, his father worked first as a British soldier and later in the trekking industry. He earned enough to give Jwalant the best
education possible. Jwalant is now passionate about alleviating the poverty and suffering of his people.
SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION
Jwalant believes the best way to overcome poverty in remote regions is giving children, especially girls, access to a good education. Much of his effort has focused on building schools in mountain villages of eastern Nepal – far
from the tourist regions of Annapurna and Everest that receive quite a bit of income and aid from the many visitors. It is in such high, remote villages that he feels most at peace… most at home.
HIGH-ALTITUDE GUIDE TRAINING FOR WOMEN
Jwalant has also developed a high-altitude guide training program for Nepali women. Female guides lack opportunities to gain the skills and experience necessary for leading clients in high-altitude environments, and this limits their
income-earning ability in a country whose economy is driven by trekking tourism. The training covers soft skills, like leadership skills, effective decision-making strategies, judgment in challenging situations, and conflict management
techniques. It also covers hard skills, like rescue and evacuation procedures, basic first aid techniques, map reading, and navigation skills. Participants have been very enthusiastic, saying the skills they learned greatly improved
their confidence and were instrumental on future treks they led.
