John Stewart raised a record sum for homeless children in India by climbing to the roof of the world for charity.
John, Head of Supply Chain Strategy in RBS Services, has been reading about Everest since he was a teenager – when he spent much of his time exploring and climbing in the Lake District. So when his daughter Ellie spotted an organised trip to the mountain’s base camp, John leapt at the chance. He also immediately decided he wanted to complete the trek to raise funds to help homeless children in India.
“Before joining the bank in 2011, I’d thought about sponsoring a child in developing countries,” explains John.
“When I started at RBS, I discovered one of my colleagues was a trustee of Tong-Len – a charity in the far North of India that provides hostels, education and medical care for some of the poorest families. I agreed to sponsor a nine-year-old boy called Nanku, whose father was dead and whose mother and family were struggling to make a living and provide education and shelter for him. But I felt like I wanted to do more to help.”
Sky-high ambition
John and his daughter set themselves the challenge of going on a self-funded trip to Everest base camp in April 2014 – and aimed to raise as much as they could for Tong-Len.
“Lots of colleagues got behind me and helped promote my fundraising, and they’ve made a big difference to the total,” he says.
After flying to Kathmandu, the trek began – but the terrain was harder than John expected. “It’s about a 130 kilometre round trip, starting in beautiful forests in the sunshine. But as you get higher it gets bleaker, dust is everywhere and the cold starts to hit you,” he says.
“Sleeping arrangements are incredibly basic, toilet facilities indescribable and there are no showers above a certain point. It’s too cold to get undressed anyway, so you wouldn’t want one!”
One of the main psychical challenges was adjusting to the lack of oxygen at high-altitude. “Everest base camp is just below 18,000 feet, so altitude sickness is a real issue and can strike anyone,” explains John. “Edmund Hillary got it apparently, so it’s random – but with plenty of water, a careful ascent and acclimatisation it can be managed.”
The final leg to base camp took nine hours and it was snowing a blizzard when John arrived. “The weather was tough, but we were well equipped and exhilarated to have made it,” he says.
Lost friends
John says the saddest part of the trip was meeting a Sherpa at the last tea house before base camp, and then learning he had been lost in an avalanche that killed 16 Sherpas a few days later. It was the worst accident in Everest’s history.
“We’d chatted to him and taken pictures with him,” recalls John. “I’ve since made a personal donation to his family via the climber he was working with.”
Record donation
John raised £7,000 from the trek to help Tong-Len. “It’s a fortune in a poor region of India and will make a huge difference to the lives and future of these children,” he says. “It’s the largest single donation to the charity this year and is around eight per cent of their annual budget.
“The trek was the experience of a lifetime – we met some incredible people and feel like we’ve made a real difference to the lives of some of the people supported by Tong-Len.”
To donate to John’s Just Giving page visit http://www.justgiving.com/john-stewart12
[Pictured: (Top) John raises the banner. (Middle) John and Ellie with Sherpas at base camp]