I’m sure that there is a feeling of loss today in Nepal.
Sir Edmund Hillary died yesterday in New Zealand at the age of 88. He was known throughout the world as the first man to successfully climb Mt. Everest, but in Nepal he was beloved for his humanitarian efforts on behalf of the people of that Himalayan nation.
I didn’t know Sir Edmund personally, but I have walked in his footsteps and I have seen that he casts a considerable shadow. When Leah and I visited Nepal in November, I stood in awe, looking up at the mountain that Hillary summited in 1953 (with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.) Later we visited the school Hillary and his family built in the village of Khumjung for the Sherpa children of the region. We saw the good that one human can try to do for others.
It’s my understanding that when Sir Edmund was asked to look back on what he’d accomplished in life, he downplayed his climb of the world’s highest peak. He talked instead about the achievements of his foundation, the Himalayan Trust: the building of 30 schools, several clinics, and two air strips. At the same time, it is said that he worried about the intrusion of the modern world into the simple lives of the hill people of the region.
As Leah and I walked around at the Khumjung school, the students proudly took us to a small room that they use as an art gallery. Leah bought a drawing that a 13-year-old girl did of the things in her world: the Musk deer, the high and wild landscape, the Buddhist prayer flags.
The students made us feel at home. I shot a portrait of a girl smiling at me through a screened window. Moments later we were flattered when the girl asked if we’d like to sit-in on her class.
I sense that Sir Edmund was an amazing man. I wish our paths had crossed while I was in Nepal. My guess is that we could have had a good talk about being drawn to a country by a high mountain, but falling in love with the people who live there.
