Charity trekking – a different view of the world – exercise
In March 2009 there was a Celebrity Charity Trek up Mount Kilimanjaro for the charity Comic Relief which raised over nearly a million pounds. Ronan Keating, of the pop group Boyzone, described where they slept as follows: “There’s only one of us in each tent. I’ve got my gear, it’s all here, we’ve got a little mattress. It’s quite cosy and cool.”
The person who speaks about such events here has mixed feelings about them. Write in to Gapfillers and tell us if you agree or not with any of the points she makes!
1 Who goes on charity treks?
2 Can you pick out any word or phrase which expresses disquiet about this phenomenon?
3 Are sherpas on Everest exploited now, according to what you hear here?
4 When was Apa Sherpa given a particular award?
5 Is Everest on this charity challenge circuit?
6 Why is Kilimanjaro an ideal venue for charity trekkers?
7 About how many Westerners walk up Kilimanjaro every year?
8 How many of the African guides and porters die every year?
9 What causes these deaths?
10 What is the age the average African guide dies at?
11 How many of the many people who climb Kilimanjaro die every year, and why?
12 What percentage of those who set out to climb the mountain will abandon their attempt?
13 Are the African guides employed by Western travel companies?
14 What is the single word used meaning ‘pay for’?
15 Can you mention four items that typical Tanzanian guides or porters might wear (or not wear) when escorting climbs?
16 What is the adjective used describing poverty that means dire or extreme?
17 What is the food that an African guide mentions eating?
18 Do the African porters sleep in one-man tents?
19 What tourism issues does this raise?
20 Does the person speaking about charity trekking want to put a stop to them?