Book Review (Spotlight Weekly)]

'Kids of Khumbu: Sherpa Youth on the Modernity Trail'

By Kurt Luger
Eco Himal Publication
Published by Mandala Book Point

Book

Khumbu's Kid
The book highlights various ways of life of Khumbu region

By SANDRA BROITMAN

With it's snappy title, and clever cover, Kurt Luger's 'Kids of Khumbu', looks like a hip book about high altitude youth culture. Unfortunately it's closer to an academic thesis than a recreational read, but it does provide some insight into the complex lives of young Sherpas.

Ever since Tenzig Norgay stood with Edmund Hillary at the top of Mt. Everest, the Sherpa people have been larger-than-life to the West - a smiling, handsome, super-human species, eager to help mountaineers conquer the world's highest peaks. They are perceived to be "poor, but happy", capable, hard working and spiritual, with a strong and exuberant culture.

According to author, Kurt Luger, the Sherpas have been the subject of intense study by Western travelers and academics, but the young people, as a group, have been almost entirely overlooked. As 'Kids of Khumbu' reveals, Sherpa youth is in a time of tremendous social upheaval, and their much loved, and lucrative, Sherpa stereotype is under siege.

Kids of Khumbu: Sherpa Youth on the Modernity Trails' was written as a study for Eco Himal, an Austria-Nepal development co-operative. They were responsible for setting up a power plant in Thamo, a small village in Khumbu, in 1992. The electricity generated by the plant, has radically altered daily life in the area, and it has helped to preserve the forests, by cutting back on the use of wood for fuel. But combined with massive tourism, electricity has rocketed this once remote area right into the 21st century, leaving the

young people caught straddling two worlds. Through individual and group interviews, 'Kids of Khumbu' tries to uncover how the sudden modernizing of this region has affected the young.

The first third of 'Kids of Khumbu' tends to get bogged down in statistics, and academic jargon, but it picks up a bit with quotes from individual young Sherpas, males and females (who are unmarried, as this is the definition of "youth" for this study, regardless of age). They comment on the changes in their communities since electricity, and how television and movies have affected their lives. They discuss how their attitudes and expectations differ from those of their parents, on their feelings and perceptions about the loss (or not) of traditional Sherpa culture and language. They talk about their experiences in the outside world, and their desire to travel abroad, or alternately not to leave, but to remain in their ancestral villages. They also talk about the double-edged sword that is tourism.

These kids realize that tourism has brought wealth to the area, and that wealth has made daily life easier and more enjoyable in many ways. They also realize that tourism is eroding the environment, as well as their culture, and some complained that the spread of wealth from tourism is so inequitable that it makes those left out, poorer than ever, because tourism has driven up the prices of everything, for everybody. Some disagree with the fashions flouted by tourists, the intoxicants they bring, and their demanding behaviour, but most seem grateful for how tourism has given them opportunities their parents literally never dreamed of. They also acknowledged the irony of this.

They feel it is necessary to court tourists, to give them all the luxuries possible, in order to maintain business, but that tourists will not continue to come if there is no traditional culture to be seen.

Eco Himal looks at connections between the mountain cultures of the Austrian Alps and the Nepali Himalaya, and there are comparisons and parallels drawn between the two sets of young people throughout the book (likely only of interest to Austrians), but the bulk of the study is devoted to the Sherpas.

The new generation of Sherpas is struggling with the clash of tradition and the modern ways of the West, as paraded through villages by tourists, aid workers, and computer and television monitors. 'Kids of Khumbu: Sherpa Youth on the Modernity Trail' allows readers a brief glimpse into their complicated world, revealing something of what young Sherpas are up against, and how they are coping with the very loud clash of cultures.