Distressingly Cracked

Carrying over 105 kilos (230 pounds) in worn rubber flip flops. I first encountered him heading up the trail to Namche. My friend Jagat, a former porter himself asked the man why he was carrying this unreal load. He's impossibly poor, has 12 kids and no education. He's paid 60 rupees per kilo (50 cents). On this trip he's making around $55 in total. The trip is 4-6 days 12-17 hours a day at high altitude.

For the next few hours, we see him during rest stops. It deeply pains me watching him. I quietly pull aside Jagat and pull out $20 USD to give to the man while also explaining that I'd like him to at least buy himself a new pair of shoes. The man coyly yet gratefully accepts hardly making eye contact in part because of the load that weighs down his neck. He gently shakes my hand. I give him the most empathetic of gazes. It's all I could muster.
A week or so later, we are heading down. I freeze. Those feet. They were indelibly tattooed in my mind and soul. The pain within those calloused crevices. I felt a burning sensation in my feet. I call to Jagat, "That's the same guy." He's heading up carrying another impossibly heavy load. This time 110 kilos (242 pounds) in the same flip flops. Clearly, he hadn't bought new shoes. Most likely he bought food for his family. Jagat asks if he bought shoes; he hesitantly nods yes . Discernibly he hasn't. Other porters who know him chime in saying he doesn't know how to wear shoes. He's never worn them in his life. Each journey is surely cutting year's off this man's life. It's unacceptable, and I felt responsible. He carries loads of food for us travelers. A tear slowly sneaks down my cheek. It's my heart speaking because my mouth won't work. With the gentlest of touches, I rest my hand on the man's shoulder conjuring up the deepest of human emotions. It's pure empathy. I don't know what to do. Lisa Kristine has said When people think of slavery, they think of an era from the distant past. Grainy photographs from Civil War times. And yet it goes on." How true it rings.
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