· Media Search  > >

Famous people say the darndest things!
Songs Music Lyrics
Lists of US Patents
Article Search
Most Recent Articles
 

HOW TO LOOK FOR THE RIGHT HOME BASED BUSINESS
Category:  

Herbs etc...A look at the latest health trend
Category:  

Helpful tips for selling your house fast
Category:  

Home Based Business: Is It In You?
Category:  

Beginners Mind, Marketers Mind
Category:  

The Home Business Trap
Category:  

How To Use Your Credit Card Intelligently
Category:  

Public Domain Copyrights Rule#1 Rule#2
Category:  

How To Help Your Kids Learn Important Life Skills Through Home B...
Category:  

Copaiba Oil
Category:  

Can one plane "do it all?"
Category:  

Trouble Sleeping? Insomnia Cures Are Here!
Category:  

Stop Debt Collectors Cold and get Back on Your Financial Feet
Category:  

You Will Not Make Money Online
Category:  

Parents - Who?s Looking Out For You?
Category:  

10 WAYS TO KNOW WHAT ARTICLE TO FEATURE IN YOUR EZINE.
Category:  

Pay Per Click Search Engines - A Fundamental Overview
Category:  

A New Way to Use Old Snapshots
Category:  

How To Select An Affiliate Program
Category:  

Building Online Businesses
Category:  

Outsourcing ? A positive approach for Small Businesses
Category:  

What to Do When People Want Everything for Free
Category:  

Are You the Culprit?
Category:  

Little Guys and Big Guys
Category:  

Home Remedy Louse Treatment:Get Rid of Lice For Good!
Category:  

Don't Forget B.O.B.!
Category:  

Into The Limelight
Category:  

How To Build A Website
Category:  

Warning! Lack of Exercise Could Be Harmful To Your Heath
Category:  

Circles In The Water
Category:  

Your Hidden Salary
Category:  

Ingredients for business success
Category:  

How Long Do Lifetime Commissions Really Last?
Category:  

Three Effective Ways to Reduce Stress
Category:  

How to Choose an Affiliate Program
Category:  

Managers Who Leave PR to Others
Category:  

Massage Your Mind!: Are You Living In A Cave?
Category:  

Massage Your Mind!: Tongue-Biting for Excellence
Category:  

Kanhaiya Amla Powder
Category:  

You have to try this, at least, once!
Category:  

Sweet Little Nothings Do Count for Something
Category:  

Give a Flower Gift with a Twist
Category:  

The Orange Marmalade Lid Secrets Of The GURUs
Category:  

Save Money By Cutting Recurring Expenses
Category:  

How Great Copywriting Sizzles For The Sale
Category:  

Pioneer Plasma Tv Is Well Placed To Satisfy Consumer Needs
Category:  

An Open Letter To The People of Afghanistan and Iraq
Category:  

10 TIPS FOR CREATING UNRESISTABLE ADVERTS.
Category:  

The Benefits of Catalog Sales For Your Business:
Category:  

Internet Time Management
Category:  

What You Judge Won?t Budge
Category:  

Are You Committing Affiliate Suicide?
Category:  

How Your Credit Report Affects You
Category:  

Tips For Successful Affiliate Marketing
Category:  

How To Prevent Your New Manager From Becoming A Statistic
Category:  

Pumpkin People
Category:  

Sexual Tips, How to last longer in bed!!!
Category:  

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall
Category:  

Marketing your online business on a budget
Category:  

Using Yoga to Manage ADD
Category:  

What to Say When the Media Calls
Category:  

Web Hosting: Selecting the Right Host!
Category:  

Learning What You Need To Learn
Category:  

Is This Thing On?
Category:  

Sex for sale over the internet.
Category:  

How To Write A High-Profit Autoresponder Series!
Category:  

Los Angeles - the first metropole with its own domain
Category:  

Organizing Your New Business, Without Losing It (Your Mind, That...
Category:  

Carpal Tunnel Begins in Your Neck, Not Your Wrist
Category:  

Promote Your Business With Dogs, Cats, And Rats
Category:  

Team Up With Your Competitors
Category:  

Avoid Large Bank Processing Fees For US$ Checks
Category:  

the High EQ, Low EQ Sales Quiz
Category:  

The Morality of Child Labor
Category:  

Just War
Category:  

On Empathy - Part II
Category:  

The Narcissist in the Workplace
Category:  

The Inverted Saint - Hitler
Category:  

Intuition - Part I
Category:  

The Myth of the Right to Life - Part II
Category:  

Managing your emotional energy is important in your leadership d...
Category:  

The Metaphors of the Net - Part IV
Category:  

The Ecology of Environmentalism
Category:  

Femmate.com exists because of our commitment and involvement in ...
Category:  

Bad credit loan Remortgage
Category:  

And Then There Were Too Many
Category:  

The Psychology of Torture - Part I
Category:  

Traumas as Social Interactions
Category:  

The Customer is ALWAYS Right! ALWAYS?
Category:  

Are Reciprocal Links Dead?
Category:  

Printed Labels for Shipping
Category:  

Brand names as objects of design
Category:  

6 Quick Questions to Stop Wasting Money with SEO Companies in le...
Category:  

5 Steps To Success In Speed Dating
Category:  

Your Most Important Online Business Decision
Category:  

Down On Your Luck? Here's How You Get Over The Hump!
Category:  

Share Your True Colors
Category:  

If You Don?t Like The Weather?Just Wait Ten Minutes
Category:  

Tips For Launching Your Own Business
Category:  

The Process of Change
Category:  

ARE YOU PLACING YOUR CHILDREN IN DANGER?
Category:  

Where should I start?
Category:  

The Thanksgiving Blessing
Category:  

Loans Consolidate the Debts to Make You Debt free
Category:  

Build a Better Snowmobile With Custom Designed Snowmobile Parts
Category:  

Are you sending out your business cards to prospective customers...
Category:  

The Almighty Buck
Category:  

Online Gambling Tips
Category:  

Transform Yourself from a Salesperson into a Businessperson
Category:  

Selling Against Goliath: How To Take On The ?Big Guys? And Win.
Category:  

Your Connection to the Elements
Category:  

The Power of Touch
Category:  

Communications for High-Performance Teams
Category:  

10 Simple Steps To Avoid Phony Telemarketers
Category:  

How To Attract Bidders - The Group Method
Category:  

It Not Easy Bein "Me"
Category:  

Turkmenistan Vote Count Continues; Nation Awaits New President
Category:  

How to Protect Yourself & Your Business
Category:  

Search Engine Optimization - A Must
Category:  

Playtime - A Lost Art
Category:  

Guide to free advertising
Category:  

Bob Hope Stories
Category:  

Can I Have Your Autograph?
Category:  

Hollywood Horse Stories
Category:  

John Wayne Took The Good With The Bad
Category:  

Sammy Davis Junior Found Religion
Category:  

How We Got Movie Stars
Category:  

I'm Just The Writer
Category:  

Ten Percent Of Jimmy Stewart
Category:  

Exciting Ways to Make Saving Money Fun
Category:  

Relieving Christmas Anxiety for Children
Category:  

The Warner Brothers Make Noise
Category:  

Walt Disney Is Coming To Town
Category:  

Understanding The Different Yeast Infection Signs
Category:  

Grab Your 5 Reasons to Engage An Attractive Site
Category:  

"How To Emotionally-Charge Your Sales Letters To Boost Sales"
Category:  

Is The Nasal FluMist Vaccine Worth It?
Category:  

Fibromyalgia Myths and Truths
Category:  

What is fantasy football and how do you play?
Category:  

How To Deal With Yeast Infections Pregnancy Recurring Symptoms
Category:  

Ten Healthy Reasons to Procrastinate This Holiday Season
Category:  

Are You Achieving Customer Loyalty?
Category:  

I'm Guilty Until Proven Innocent
Category:  

Grieving Our Losses
Category:  

High Google Rankings: Frequency vs. Positioning
Category:  

7 Critical Steps To Protect Your Data
Category:  

Video Marketing: Go Viral And Grow Rich
Category:  

5 Ways To Help Your Kids Do Math
Category:  

I'm Not Responsible - You Are!
Category:  

Why Write Articles to Publicize your Business?
Category:  

To Get Free Publicity, Talk to the "New Kid on the Block"
Category:  

To get free publicity, "Sell The Story -- Not the Store"
Category:  

5 Ways To Invest In A Declining Real Estate Market
Category:  

How To Use Viral Marketing Tools To Explode Your Ezine List!
Category:  

Waiting For Synchronicity
Category:  

Why written in sand or on stone?
Category:  

MLM - Monetising Your Business
Category:  

Leading Others
Category:  

Personally Yours: Adding Your Signature Of Beauty To The World A...
Category:  

Are You Expecting To Succeed?
Category:  

The Awesome Power of E-Books
Category:  

The Best Lucid Dreaming Techniques
Category:  

Why Search Engine Traffic
Category:  

Fever May Help the Body Heal Itself.
Category:  

Google, our internet in their hands.
Category:  

Quit your addiction here and now.
Category:  

Where Do You Go From Here? (A Follow-Up)
Category:  

Planning Ahead Of Everyone Else To Win
Category:  

A Simple Way To Dramatically Increase Your Affiliate Earnings
Category:  

"3 Quick Tips To Becoming An Instant Copywriting Genius"
Category:  

Why People Fail To Make Money Online
Category:  

The Worst Job on Earth?!
Category:  

Children Get Constipated, Too
Category:  

Don't You Know Who I Am?
Category:  

Little Things Mean A Lot
Category:

 

 

 
Web LinkGrinder.com

Top Breaking News
     Colombian Military Releases Video of Hostage Rescue by VOA News
     Former DRC Warlord Brought Before ICC Amid Doubts by Brent Latham
     Tanzania Devises Plan to Cope with Avian Flu Outbreak (Part 1/5) by Douglas Mpuga

Porters of Kilimanjaro; Marco’s Song


Category: World News
This article is brought to you by Bethel Travel and Amazines.com.
Submit your Articles Here!

As you climb Kilimanjaro spare a thought for the humble porter. His life is one of extreme hardship of trekking up and down the mountain carrying your supplies. No one notices him, no one cares for him, he goes unseen and unappreciated.

I see many items on the internet about the ‘Kilimanjaro song’ – many climbers wanting the words for the song as it brings back memories for them. Good memories of the hard slog to the summit of Kilimanjaro, the highest point in Africa. There is another side to this song; the porters who sing this song have their own storey. What follows is the porter’s song, in this case Marco’s song. These are his own words...

Sometimes; to get the job as a porter with a group I would have to pay for the privilege. Porters are poor and life is hard. This payment to get a job I always would hope to pay out of my tip – that is if I got a tip this time – I would always pray I would get a tip. The guide would share the tip the tourists gave at the end of the climb; but we the porters rarely received a share. Don’t be fooled by the fair trade tourism; fair trade tourism may have good intentions but usually they are far away in comfortable offices and are sadly unaware of what is really happening.

We the porters are kept at a distance from the tourist. We are not encouraged to talk or interact in anyway with the guests. I was once beaten for talking to a guest. Imagine that, beaten for talking to a tourist whose bag I was carrying up Kilimanjaro; it was just not allowed; they [the guides] feared we would take their tip. After I was beaten I didn’t get another job for a long time; the guide told all the other guides I was a trouble maker. So no one would give me a job, and I was unable to pay for my school for almost one year. I climbed the mountain to pay for my education.

When I was 16 my family said my education was over. I didn’t want to die here climbing Kilimanjaro so I begged my family to allow me to carry on with my schooling. They agreed but said that I must pay for it myself; I did this by carrying supplies up the mountain for the tourists. In the early days we had to carry 40kg’s – imagine that 40kg’s it made me very tired and sometimes very sick.

The food we eat is very basic and usually not cooked properly. Kerosene [paraffin] used for the cooking is for the guests it is not for us. The maze flour is cooked into a stiff porridge [called ugali] it might be hot but it is not cooked through; sometimes the flour is not even mixed well with the water. Most times a hot slice of ugali is put directly into our hands; there are no bowels or plates for the porters. Sometimes we would get mchicha [local spinach] with the ugali but mostly it was just ugali.

Most porters are poorly clothed and we are inadequately fed so we get ill, if we get ill on the climb we will not get another job again and we won’t get paid for this job. So if we fall ill we must carry on. I remember a long long time ago my friend, Lumuli, he died, he was sick before we started to climb but he needed the money for is family. It was at a hill we call breakfast; it was here at this place where he died. The tourists were not told, I don’t think anyone even noticed he was missing. I returned with his body, I didn’t get paid for this climb nor did Lumuli’s widow receive any payment toward the funeral.

Many times when I got home after a climb I might be sick for one week. Sometimes coughing up blood. My brother would beg me to stop climbing Kilimanjaro when I got sick but I knew it was my only hope, my only escape. If you are unlucky enough to be born into Marangu village you climb Kilimanjaro or you can starve to death slowly whilst growing coffee.

Once I remember a porter lost his shoe. There was ice on the ground and the porter’s foot was numb. He did not notice he had lost his shoe until a tourist noticed the blood and stopped the trek and put a bandage on the foot and gave him a pair of boots! This tourist was very angry with the guide, we were pleased the guide was in trouble; but of course we were punished for upsetting the tourists – we were all punished. This was in the days when a porter carried up to 40 kg. Now the weight carried is a lot less but too little clothing and low wages are still a problem for the porters.

When the climb is finished we are very tired, exhausted even, but we are forced to stand in a line singing the ‘Kilimanjaro song’. We clap and look happy for the tourists… well for the guides to get their tips. When we sing they [the guides] say ‘sing louder, sing louder’ and they say ‘look happy’. All the guide books are told what tips to pay and to pay it all to the guide. Why? Why do they say that? Do tourists not care for the porters? I am sure there is a very good reason for paying all the tips to the guides but I am still waiting for someone to tell me what that reason is. We never got much from the tips usually in most cases we received next to nothing at all – except of course for our wages less the tip we must pay to the mountain-guide.

The porters have no voice, they have no rights. They die for a few dollars. I ask your tourists from Europe from America, from China and Australia to spare a thought for the porter. When you book through a fair trade operator, make certain they really are doing what they say they are doing. And I would ask if you tip the porter please give it to the porter. I am now living in Aruhsa and life is not so bad as it was in Marangu. I help my family and don’t allow any of my relatives to be a porter.

Kilimanjaro is beautiful I am told, but for me, when I look at that mountain… well all I see is poverty, death, hardship; for me Kilimanjaro holds no beauty at all. Of course we pretend, yes indeed we pretend to the tourist that we appreciate the majesty of this mountain; but to be truthful it is very hard for me to see anything but cruelty and poverty.

Kilimanjaro information, climbs, recommended tour operators can be found at Bethel Adventure. For more information contact details at http://www.betheladventure.co.uk Using tourism to change lives.

Return to Last Page

Homepage
Articles
DVD's
Member Login
Add Your Link
Edit Your Link
Contact Us
Image Hosting
Advertising
Disclaimer

  Auctions - eBooks - Maps - Banner Links - Software - Weather - Music - Movies - TV
Add Your Site · Terms Of Service · Privacy Policy
 

DISCLAIMER

Follow The Bill is a free service that searches the Internet and indexes all files found so that you may search quickly and easily for shared files. These files are created and made available individually by users whose identity we are not aware of and who we have no control over. In essence we function like a search engine tool; these files ARE NOT STORED OR SERVED BY OUR NETWORK. We are not responsible for any materials obtained by using our service. We do not monitor any of the contents of these files. These files may contain viruses, illegal materials, materials inappropriate for minors, offensive files and the like. BY USING OUR SERVICE, YOU ASSUME FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR DOWNLOADING THESE MATERIALS AND WILL INDEMNIFY US FOR ANY DAMAGES THAT MAY BE INCURRED.

For More Specific Information VIEW OUR TERMS OF SERVICE.

Thank you and Enjoy!