A new partnership: MM and emBOLDen Alliances

This year, along with our debut trip to the Rwen­zori moun­tain range on our Moun­tains of the Moon expe­di­tion, Moun­tain Mad­ness formed an impor­tant part­ner­ship with an excep­tion­al non-prof­it com­pa­ny called emBOLD­en Alliances. Already the part­ner­ship has seen pos­i­tive out­comes in two coun­tries. Cur­rent­ly, exec­u­tive direc­tor and long-time Moun­tain Mad­ness client, Neena Jain, is lead­ing the emBOLD­en Alliances relief efforts in Nepal after two dev­as­tat­ing earth­quakes on April 25^th and May 12^th. Assist­ing her in the effort is Moun­tain Mad­ness founder Scott Fis­cher’s daugh­ter Katie Rose. 

Katie Rose and Neena in the Khum­bu Val­ley work­ing with the locals. Neena Jain photo

How­ev­er, before these dis­as­ters struck, emBOLD­en Alliances and Moun­tain Mad­ness had begun work­ing togeth­er on anoth­er project that also deserves some atten­tion. Our project goals are to bet­ter the safe­ty and well-being of guides and porters, par­tic­u­lar­ly women, in the Rwen­zoris Nation­al Park and to improve the oppor­tu­ni­ty for edu­ca­tion and well-being of the chil­dren of women porters. Pri­or to the trip, it was clear from in-depth research that, while smoe attempts have been made to equip, train and employ women porters in the past, these efforts have not been sys­tem­atized, mea­sured or maintained.

Women porters in the Rwen­zoris. Mark Gun­log­son photo

Dur­ing the March 2015 MM Rwen­zori expe­di­tion, MM employed 15 women porters, a deci­sion that was met with respect, grat­i­tude and recog­ni­tion by the Ugandan/​Rwenzori author­i­ties. Dur­ing the trip, the mem­bers of the expe­di­tion explored ideas to fur­ther engage women in por­ter­ing with as many guides and porters as pos­si­ble, includ­ing the women porters on the trip. 

When you join us on our excit­ing new trip to the Moun­tains of the Moon in Ugan­da, you will be con­tribut­ing to the effort to help women porters in the Rwen­zori moun­tains and fund edu­ca­tion for chil­dren. Stay tuned to learn more about how you can donate to the effort either direct­ly through Moun­tain Mad­ness or by trav­el­ling with us.