No doubt climbing Mt. Everest at any time is an adventurous, but Sir Edmund’s maiden successful ascent of the world’s highest peak 50 years ago, at a time when mountain climbing was in its infancy, and there were few of the gears available to a modern-day mountaineers, was a truly remarkable, even superhuman, feat.
The life of the New Zealand soldier would completely change after scaling Mt. Everest, when he learnt of misery of the people of Khumbu (where Mt. Everest lies), who were beset by abject poverty and mass illiteracy.
When Hillary met them, he felt that his true calling was not in climbing all the great mountains, but doing something for these unfortunate people. He soon started working for their cause. He said that his work with the poor might not be as adventurous as scaling world’s high and difficult peaks, but certainly more difficult and challenging. It needed more time, patience and dedication. It certainly was not as glamorous as climbing Mt. Everest, and entailed many personal sacrifices. But this realization only strengthened his resolve.
Rather than leave the arduous task he had started for the wellbeing of poor and deprived people, he started spending more and more time doing social works in the remote areas of Khumbu. In my view, too, Hillary’s most memorable feat is not his ascent of Mt. Everest, but his ability to win the hearts and minds of the poverty-stricken, marginalized and helpless people of Khumbu.
Thousands have scaled Mt. Everest since. Some of them taking more difficult routes, some have scaled Mt Everest several times, and some even without oxygen, but these climbers are little known to the local people of the region. It is Sir Edmund who everybody in the region remembers as their true hero even four years after his death.
What have we done to honor his selfless devotion to Nepal, for his sacrificing his career, luxuries and his family for the benefit of the people of Nepal?
It was his deep emotional attachment with these people that made him so widely loved and revered. There is a saying among Khumbu locals that during the initial days of Hillary’s visit to the region, he asked the local people what they wanted from him. One of the locals apparently replied that as were they, in a sense, ‘blind people with healthy eyes’, they wanted his to provide them with new vision.
It was a symbolic expression of their mass illiteracy and ignorance and, Hillary believed, a heart-felt expression of the dire need for local educational establishments. Indeed, Sir Edmund would go on to build the first school and health post in the area. He also helped build a local airport, which has proved to be the most important infrastructure to date in supporting the development efforts of Khumbu region. It is said that he not only helped financially in the construction of vital infrastructure, but also as a manual laborer. This untiring dedication to his cause is what makes him revered not only in the Khumbu region, but also in Nepal, New Zealand and around the world.
Today, as we commemorate his death anniversary, all of us, especially those from Nepal and New Zealand, would do well to remember the great causes of the great man. But what have we done in his memory so far? For his selflessly devotion to Nepal, for his sacrificing his bright career, luxuries, his family just for the benefit of the people of Nepal? Precious little, I am afraid.
There are several things we can do. For instance, a postal stamp can be issued in his name, the Lukla Airport and local school can be named after him, a mountaineering institution and/or a hospital can be established in his name in the Khumbu region. And let us not forget, it was while flying from Lukla that Sir Edmund lost his first wife and his youngest daughter back in 1975. A monument can also be established for Sir Edmund’s beloveds.
Similarly, the government could recognize his efforts by granting him the country’s highest honors and citizenship posthumously. Honorary citizenships could be provided to his family members. Or we could put up his statues in Lukla and Tribhuwan International Airport. Likewise, a rural development fund can be launched in his name by the governments of Nepal and New Zealand as his works have benefitted both the peoples.
The question should not be what ought to be done to honor his memories but what must be done. On my part, I would like to salute this hero, an emblem of kindness and dedication to his cause and also for bringing the two countries into limelight by being the first man to successfully break the frontier of a successful climb up Mt. Everest.
The writer, a resident of Auckland, New Zealand, is the author of Sir Edmund Hillary’s biography ‘Tribute to Sir Edmund Hillary’
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