Aurore Menard – Pike & Hurricane

Starting again in Your Own Country: The Peruvian Example

Aurore Menard — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 10:08:17 +0000

Each region of Peru has its own characteristics that vary with its natural environment and its culture. Just like most places in the world, people migrate between the different regions of their country to obtain better standards of living. The Amazon (selva) is mostly inhabited by natives that use the natural resources in the forests and the rivers in order to survive, eat and build their villages. The Andes (sierra) are influenced by the Inca culture and the cold winter temperatures which in return results in a hostile climate. Subsequently, the coast (costa) is now the economic center of the country where the majority of imports and exports of various products are exchanged.

Each area has its advantages and disadvantages, however many Peruvian still migrate in search for a new start. Between 1960 and 2013, the percentage of urban population increased from 46,81% to 77,95%. This is impressive yet interesting for a country that praises its support towards projects concerning resources in rural areas. Why is Peru facing this phenomenon of urbanisation and what happened in the past 50 years?

First of all, the political changes during the Peruvian civil war (Sendero Luminoso 1980-1992) have had their consequences on migration. The reasons are simple; burned houses, neighborhoods where they lived devastated, extreme violence and the expansion of coca traffic. As a result, an estimated 200,000 people between 1980 and 1990 in the Department of Ayacucho moved from rural zones to urban centers by obligation, inter alia, to Lima, Ica and Huancayo. The department of Ayacucho was paralyzed for nearly 10 years after the arrest of Abimael Guzman ( leader of the Sendero Luminoso).

Once they moved, migrants formed their own villages and illegal settlements, all without obtaining any compensation from the government, or anyone for their losses. However, this is only displacing the problems of poverty, unorganised zones and violence. The migrants are often attacked by the police and suspected of being members of the Sendero Luminoso, a movement that oppose the government and eventually paralysed the country into a civil war. After the civil war, there has been a growth of discriminationwithin the Peruvian community towards those who come from regions where the left-Maoist movement was very active and supported. Because of the racism towards these migrants, constant clashes with the police and the state have put a burden on mending the relationship between the two parties.The government is trying not only to stop the Sendero Luminoso for good, but continually fight against drug trafficking and money laundering. However, the population has lost faith in the state, especially in rural areas. Cities are expanding at a remarkable rate and the problems faced by the people arebeing displaced. Thus, social insecurity is an expanding issue, inter alia, cause by political history of the country.

As for the Peruvian Amazon, internal migration is a phenomenon that can be observed in the blink of an eye. Each year, the cities of this region are expanding and the small villages disappear. This area represents 13.4% of the total population in Peru. In the 1940s, Iquitos was the only town included in the Peruvian city system. Today, we can count not only Iquitos but also six other major city in the country. The development of local markets, the exploitation of hydrocarbons, alternative cultures and the black market (wood, gold, coca, and fisheries) have encouraged these mass movements.

There is also the question of social mobility. For most Peruvians, symbolic wealth is something important, such as having a house or financing the education of their children. When the natives of the Amazon area migrate to these cities, they often cannot afford to buy a house immediately and end up living in pitiful conditions. However, they make this sacrifice in order for their children to have access to better education.

The natives, accustomed to bartering,have a traditional trade system that is not recognised in the cities. This forces them to integrate themselves into the market to obtain the money they need to survive. By integrating themselves to the market, individuals therefor understand that it is easier to do the transactions in an environment where trades are conducive, which means in the cities. Traditional medicine which has been a reliable form of medicine through a healer is slowly becoming more and more uncommon throughout the population. The transmission of knowledge is interrupted and that does not mean that because the migrants are now in an urban zone they will get “better” medical care. Often they do not have access to drinkable water or proper sanitation buildings.

There is also non-voluntary migration caused by, inter alia, illegal mining, the expansion of land set aside for coca crops or the burning of agricultural fields. Each year, 150 000 hectares1 of Peruvian rainforest disappear. In other words, lands are being destroyed and people are forced to move.

As presented on the web-site of the Education Ministry (Ministerio de Educacion), the government has a certain amount of money for programs already in place for each department in the Peruvian provinces. These allocations are determined by the density of the population of each province. Thus, urban centers are often the focal points of the ministries since it is where the majority of the population is located. The current education system set up by the government does little to help the educational institutions in my opinion, even though there is three levels of government that are responsible for ensuring the “right of education”. There is a continuous improvement but still, a lot needs to be done.

Some Peruvians will migrate to rural centers to have access to better social services, better education, a sense of security, becoming integrated to new markets and decision-making processes, but in the end, is the new urban life any better than where they came from?

By Aurore Menard

Image credit:

Picture 1: Geraint Rowland, licensed under CC BY 2.0

Picture 2: Alex Proimos, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Picture 3: Rob Sinclair, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

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Commercialisation of the Mountain

Aurore Menard — Fri, 28 Nov 2014 22:38:56 +0000

Before the commercialisation of the mountain, the king of the mountain, Reinhold Messner, once called Fritz Wiessner, was the most pivotal mountaineer of the 20th century. Messner was the first to climb all 14 of the 8,000-meter high peaks, as well as the first to make a solo ascent of Everest without supplemental oxygen. Messener’s comment about Wiessner was because Messner himself didn’t make it to the summit of the K2 (the second highest mountain in the world), not because of the difficulty, but because his Sherpa didn’t want to provoke the night’s spirit on the mountain and wished to turn back.

That is an incredible attitude to have on the mountain, which is not always seen nowadays. All over the world carriers, cooks and guides are being exploited, often because some individuals wish to realise their dreams.

The Sherpa people, who moved from the Tibetan plateau 300 years ago to Nepal, are part of an ethnic group of 80,000 people. They have been used as labour on mountaineering expeditions since the very beginning. They may be strong, fast and cheap to hire, but they are not invincible.

In 1922, during the first serious attempt of Everest, 7 Sherpas died in an avalanche. In April of 2014, the worst tragedy in the history of mountaineering happened resulting in the death of 16 Sherpas in the Kumbu Passage. In total, 174 climbing Sherpas have died while working in the mountains in Nepal—15 in the past decade, on Everest alone. Their workplace mortality rate is 1,2 percent, making it the only service industry in the world where workers are so frequently killed and maimed for the benefit of paying clients.

It wasn’t always so popular to climb Everest and other high peaks. Nowadays, given all the technology available, the bottled oxygen that you can use to make it to the top and the fact that you, even if you are not in shape to carry your stuff, can just pay others to do it for you, has turned mountain climbing into a gigantic industry. In 1963, 6 people reached the top of Everest while in 2012, 500 people did it. Sometimes, it is even so crowded at the top that it is hard to find a place at some of the camps.

Statistics show that around 90 percent of the climbers on Everest are guided clients without formal mountaineering training, who completely rely on Sherpa guides, novices who end up endangering their own lives as well as the Sherpas’. Those clients pay between US$30 000 to $120,000.

For the Sherpas, it is a lucrative but deadly job. They do it because of the salary they earn (typically $5,000/season – eight times Nepal’s average annual income per capita. “If somebody in America climbs Everest 19 times, he’d be all over Budweiser commercials, Sherpas don’t get the same recognition” Norbu Tenzing Norgay once said on the subject.

Sherpas working above Base Camp need at least $4,600 in death coverage and $575 in medical, while low-altitude porters must be insured at $3,500. Each expedition must also cover its Sherpas with, collectively, at least $4,000 in rescue insurance. Though, High-altitude helicopter rescues cost $15,000 each…

Without the efforts of the Sherpas on Everest, no commercial expedition would make it to the summit.

The Himalayas is a mountain range in South Asia. It’s the home of the 14 highest summits in the world (each of them higher than 8,000 meters). Five of them are located in Pakistan and eight are in Nepal.

Sylvain is a Canadian climber who went to Pakistan with an international expedition three years ago in order to reach G2 (8,035meters). According to him, it is necessary for them to hire carriers, at least up to base camp. The 47 days of expedition could have been spent on just transporting material up to base camp if it wasn’t for the Baltis, the carriers in Pakistan. Due to ethical considerations, Baltis were only hired up to base camp, and no high-altitude carrier was used during the expedition Sylvain took part in.

There is a tradition that when you hire guides, as a passionate and experienced climber, you share a respect that is mutual. For example, Sylvain’s birthday took place during the expedition, and at base camp, the cooks made him a huge chocolate cake. He split the cake into even pieces to divide between the members of the expedition and the cooks. The cooks were really touched by the gesture.

Unfortunately, there are not only alpinists on the mountain, there are also tourists and that’s why the ethics of interaction have changed so much. Tourists are bringing so much money to the villages in the area and are now an important economic resource . Carriers have to map the trails, prepare the equipment and carry it all the way to the next stop. They often wear sandals, go without climbing glasses, and carry heavy back packs (as can seen in the picture, even chairs are brought to the camp in order to maximise the comfort of the clients).

Sylvain, the climber, said the Sherpas and Baltis conditions are sad, they are underpaid for the hard work they are doing, but it has improved over the years. For example, one of the members of the expedition drove a van from Spain to Pakistan and gave it to one of the local communities to help them start their own association. The association aims to encourage expeditions to hire local Baltis instead of bringing Sherpas or guides from Nepal.

An expedition the year before had given their Baltis all of their solar glasses against reverberation, but none of them had them the next year, all the glasses had been sold in order to bring home more money for their families. The same thing happens with climbing boots.

If you are a client, the minimum you can do is to respect the one you hire, to respect the carrier (Sherpas, Baltis or others) and all the other members of the team. Mountaineering isn’t just about making it to the summit, it is about the journey, and the footprint you leave on the mountain. You may be the one climbing today but others are going to climb tomorrow too. Respect can go along with enjoyment.

By Aurore Menard

Image credit:

Picture 1: jarikir, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Picture 2: Frank Kehren, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Picture 3: Fryderyk Supinski, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

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Just a Dead Body?

Aurore Menard — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 15:04:37 +0000

September 14th, 2013 – Lago Atitlan, Guatemala

Today is an important day. Guatemala has been independent for exactly 192 years. I just arrived two days ago in this small village along the magnificent Lago Atitlan. My host mom told me I should go to Puerto San Jose, which is on the pacific coast, with some people from the village to celebrate the Independence. As I am freezing on the bus on the way, I ask myself: what am I really doing over here? This culture is so different from mine but you know what, I love it, I feel at home.

I was a swimmer for many years back in Canada and I always get really excited when it comes to the ocean. As soon as we arrive, I run towards the water like a kid. I am full of enthusiasm.

Suddenly something catches my attention. A lot of people are all looking and pointing at something. My curiosity overrides my excitement to go in the water. As I approach the crowd I see something lying in the sand, something with red on it… Now I am enough close to realise that it is a body, a dead body maybe? I don’t know, nobody is around, why are people not helping the man? His eyes are open, his face is covered with blood and totally destroyed. Why are people not helping him, doing CPR? I walk as fast as I can towards the man. I cross that imaginary line that the other people aren’t crossing but I am not even half way when someone carries me back outside the circle. I try to fight back but the man is really strong. It all happens so fast, but I remember his face. He was mad, so mad at me. Why? I just wanted to help that man, maybe he was still alive? I saw him, I saw his eyes, I saw his body completely not okay. His curly black hair covered with sand and blood.

The man finally explains to me that if I touch the body, I will be the one considered responsible for his death. It is 7:30 in the morning but the body was in the same spot when the man arrived at 6A.M. The police didn’t show until 9A.M to cover up the body.

For an entire week I could not sleep. My host family was laughing at me. Every time we would see a dead body on TV they would cover my eyes and tell me “don’t look Aurora, you will have nightmares again”. I was traumatised. I never saw a dead body like that before. Yes, when I closed my eyes I would still see his face, his eyes wide open. For a few days, I didn’t feel at home at all. This is not my world; I don’t want to live with such images.

I am a privileged white young adult, born and raised in a country where such images are not part of my everyday life. I have seen dead people, at the funeral home. I have seen dead people, on television and in the newspaper. Why was my host family not more shaken? Why was my heart beating fast just by reliving the memories, whilst others see more and more of that kind of violence and don’t question it?

I realised that even in a world where we talk about globalisation and the sharing of cultures, there are concepts that remain culture-specific. Death is one of them.

Guatemalans are in a phase where the consequences of 36 years of war are still visible. Violence perpetrated in the country is televised, without any shyness. They show bloody scenes with dead bodies uncovered. Some barrier about these kinds of horrors must have formed in the mind of Guatemalans. It doesn’t seem to be abnormal to look at those images, especially after so many years of violence. Canada, which is a much quieter country in terms of crime and homicides doesn’t have that kind of past. In 2012, Guatemala had 40 intentional homicides per 100 000 habitants while Canada had 2.

Concerning the fear of what happens after death, there may be a major difference between the two countries. In Guatemala, the majority of the population is still involved in religion; Catholics make up 50-60% of the population while Protestants account for 35-40%. Only 1% are still considered followers of the Indigenous Mayan faith. In Canada, Catholicism is the dominant religion with 43.6% out of a population which is 67% Christian. More than 24% of Canadians consider themselves atheist.

This has implications on the perception of what happens after death. Religion promotes continuity after death. In addition, 95% of the Guatemalan population is considered indigenous. Maya is the culture that they identify themselves as belonging to. For the Mayans, there are strong beliefs about the reincarnation of the dead in the living world. Having such beliefs affects how we approach death. Moreover, lots of ceremonies are still performed today, especially in rural regions. The Kame is the day of celebrating and asking the dead people for strength, as they are believed to be guides that accompany individuals during their earth lives. The objective of this tradition is to avoid all kinds of dangers, diseases and pains and to seek protection while traveling. During the celebration, there is a communication that is created between the superior beings and access is granted to the dimensional gates.

It’s been a year since I came back from Guatemala but I am still shocked by all the dead bodies I saw. The perception of death differs from one culture to another based on history, religion, rituals and many other factors. Each individual is also different and so is the way they perceive death. A painter from the village I was staying in said, “I’m Catholic and I strongly believe in life after death. I never saw a corpse in real life and I wouldn’t want to. Death is the end of this life but the beginning of another one “.

I fell in love with Guatemala and its people and I can’t wait to go back. I know I have to be careful with my reactions and the way I perceive the differences because they all have a history behind them. The last thing I would want is a conflict due to misunderstandings.

By Aurore Menard

Image credit:

Picture 1: Alex Schwab, licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

Picture 2: Guillén Pérez, licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

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