|
|
Ang Tshering
Sherpa about Hillary: "I was one of the first students to graduate
from the Khumjung School"
 January 13, 2008 a
memorial was held in Khumjung for Edmund Hillary.
 Monks entering
Khumjung Gompa for the memorial.
 Service inside the
monastery.
 Sherpa people
paying respect outside.
 Phu Dorji, Ed
Hillary's Sirdar shares a quiet moment with a long-time friend
in Khumjung Gompa.
| 07:47 pm EST Jan 23, 2008
(MountEverest.net) Ang Tshering Sherpa has gone a
long way since he graduated from the first school built by Hillary.
President of the Nepal Mountaineering Association; Ang Tshering
chairs the biggest trekking agency in the country and a flight
service to Lukla.
January 13, a memorial was held for Edmund
Hillary in Khumjung. Here go Ang Tshering’s pictures from the event,
and also his open letter to the mountaineering community with some
of his thoughts and memories of Ed:
Letter from Ang
Tshering Sherpa
"Dear Friends:
It is with a
heavy heart that I wish you Namaste and offer my Greetings from
Nepal.
Sir Ed Hillary has begun his journey to the final
summit of Life - a summit that we all would like to reach, but very
few of us are able.
Sir Ed Hillary will always live in the
hearts and memories of the thousands of Sherpas who know him. As a
tribute I wish to share with you some parts of Sir Ed Hillary's life
that has touched me and my family personally.
In the early
1960s Sir Ed Hillary was on one of his many journeys accompanied by
his Sherpa friends. While they were crossing a mountain pass, Sir Ed
Hillary is said to have asked one of the Sherpas if there was
anything he could do for the Sherpa people, what would it be? The
Sherpa friend immediately replied, "Burra Sahib" (Big Sahib), our
children have eyes but they are blind and can not see. We want you
to open their eyes by building a school.
In 1961 Sir Ed
Hillary built the first school in Khumjung village with his own
hands.
In 1964, he built Lukla airport opening a gate way to
the Khumbu and to Everest and letting, not only the world know about
the Sherpa people and their culture, but also showing the Sherpa
people that there was a much bigger world beyond the Himalaya.
In 1966 he built the Khunde Hospital to provide free health
services to all Nepalese.
And the list could go on. But what
I have said here touches my family - the Sherpa who asked for a
school to be built was my father Konchok Chumbi. My father
accompanied Sir Ed Hillary when the Yeti scalp from Khumjung Gompa
was taken around the world.
I was one of the first students
to get admitted into Khumjung School and graduate from there. If not
for the vision of one man who stood above all - I would perhaps now
be a man bowed by age and still carrying loads in my beloved Khumbu.
By coincidence, my son, Dawa Steven, was in Dingboche when
he heard the news of Sir Ed Hillary's passing away. He rushed down
to Khumjung in one day and was fortunate to be able to share in the
prayers offered by the people in Khumjung Gompa. I am sharing a few
of the images, honoring the memory of a great human being.
My son, Dawa Steven, is dedicating his Eco Everest
Expedition 2008 to the Vision of Sir Ed Hillary for the Khumbu and
her people.
As President of the Nepal Mountaineering
Association (NMA) I have proposed naming one Himalayan peak and
Lukla airport after Sir Ed Hillary. I have also proposed that the
Nepal Government initiate an International level award named after
Sir Ed Hillary.
While I am deeply saddened, I feel joy that
a soul like Sir Ed Hillary walked among us.
Until the next
time we meet -
Sincerely,
Ang Tshering Sherpa"
Ang Tshering Sherpa, Chairman for Asian Trekking (P) Ltd
and President of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, is also the
official GSA and mouthpiece for CTMA (Everest Chinese side).
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Special Mentions:
|
 | |
|
.gif)
)
)
)
)
)