In part one of Women on the Trail, Elisa Spampinato introduced us to Nakijwa and Getruda, two young women carving out a career as porters on Kilimanjaro. Here she continues their story, revealing some of the inequalities and obstacles female porters face on the mountain.
Trust (and Other) Issues
“They don’t trust we can do it,” says Nakijwa with a tone of resignation in her voice. Lowering her gaze to stare at the ground, she adds, “They think we are weak.”
I stood speechless in front of my camera because I simply couldn’t find the right words to express my incredulity at such an absurd statement.
My trips to East African countries have not been many, but a few days on African soil had been enough to prove that thought completely unreasonable.
Particularly in rural communities, women are usually left with many of the physical burdens of daily life.
Every day they fetch water from far away, work in the fields, and carry heavy goods, walking for miles on uneven surfaces. I have seen so many women transporting wood from the forest to the nest, waking up before the sun appears in the sky and walking for hours under a merciless sun.
I don’t know whether to believe that this is what the local men really think or if it is just the only answer that could justify the traditional unequal treatment.
What I do know, unfortunately, is that this is not the only issue women face in the working environment when it comes to adventure travel and hiking in Tanzania.
Since it is hard for a woman to get any job, somehow ‘sexual corruption’ – as my interviewees refer to the practice of some women accepting sexual harassment in exchange for work opportunities – has become the norm.
For the strongest, who can move through this muddy pond keeping their dignity and their head held high, there is the chance to work as a porter.
However, the trip to the top poses even more challenges, and I am not referring merely to the physical ones. Great mental toughness will be required along the way.
When I started my conversation with Nakijwa and Getruda, understanding their work challenges was my first and main motivation.
I was horrified to hear that their biggest difficulty while climbing was that they had no choice but to sleep in a room with many other men.
No separate tents, in fact, are arranged for the few women who are part of the staff, ignoring the uneasiness that women have in sharing a bedroom – and toilets – with people of the opposite sex.
It is a common practice for the porters to sleep in a shared room and use the same bathroom since traditionally women were not around and there was no mixing of genders.
However, things have changed, and the women’s need for privacy is now a new priority, though one that is not yet considered as such.
In the same way, the exposure of women to possible ‘sexual night incidents’ is not considered something that should be prevented, which is at the least disrespectful and would be unacceptable in almost any other work environment.
The Silenced Presence
Completing this enforced isolation was another shocking practice I learned about – that porters are forbidden – yes, you read right – to talk to tourists unless they are addressed by them.
This is one of the firm instructions delivered by the Chief Guide, who, in turn, had received it directly from the tour company.
Puzzled, I wondered whether this was to avoid distractions along the difficult route.
However, this rule allegedly exists to ‘protect’ the tourists. I wonder how dangerous it would be for a tourist to leave their overprotected bubble and be ‘distracted’ by the reality that walks behind them with their luggage on their heads.
For someone like me, who is an innate connector and who recklessly tries to create new opportunities in the travel industry for different cultures to share and learn from each other, the idea of a wall consciously built to separate seems a cruel and surreal joke.
I had to ask: “In an ideal world, where you could freely talk (I still cannot believe I asked them this very question), what would you like to ask tourists and, above all, what would you like to share about your world with them?”
Nakijwa started giggling. I was unsure whether this was because she considered it funny to even consider the possibility of such an option.
However, upon my posing the questions, once Nakijwa and Getruda had lost their initial signs of shyness, and realised they were being presented with an opportunity, they both started sharing their ideas as though they were gathering together a wish list.
The very first things they said were compelling to me: “I would like to share that we have 120 tribes here in Tanzania,” Getruda enthused. “We could also share how we live, our traditional food, dances, clothes and value system,” added Nakijwa.
Their answer to my weird, unexpected question only confirmed my previous belief – which perhaps over the years has become a guiding ethic – that tourism can become a source of enrichment for all human beings and can help everyone to grow into a better person.
All this is possible because tourism allows us to get in touch, even if only for brief moments, with different cultures, giving us a sense of perspective, of reality. Invited to eat some humble pie, in a place far from home, where our senses are more awake and our minds perhaps more open to absorbing new information and narratives, there is a heightened chance to experience an enlightening moment that can reveal our limited views and expose our inherited sense of entitlement and perceived superiority.
The physical closeness and the shared path on a challenging mission can build solid bridges. But not if those unknown silhouettes walking beside us to support our climbing are immersed in silence.
Fair Requests
Getruda and Nakijwa’sprofessional journey has just started.Their dream of becoming tour guides one day and building their skills until they are tour leaders is vivid.
During this first leg of their personal and professional journey, they have demonstrated great strengths, proving not only their physical abilities but also their high level of mental endurance.
When I asked them to share, in an ideal scenario, their requests and suggestions for improvements, they presented a short but effective list.
Good infrastructure, such as female-only tents, for example, would respect the privacy of their minority gender and allow them to take part in the work with more dignity and perhaps less anxiety.
Contractual agreements and payment, of course, are other vital issues. The majority of their contracts – they explained to me – are freelance contacts established on a one-to-one basis for each expedition, with no guarantee of a regular income for the temporary workers.
Moreover, in regard to the salary, there is no minimum standard. Although 20,000 Tanzanian shillings (TZS) – equivalent to £6.50 – per day is considered a fair minimum salary, both of them confirmed that the majority of the companies active in Tanzania usually pay less than that, sometimes TZS 15,000 but even as little as TZS 10,000 per day.
Getruda and Nakijwa were the first of the six female porters employed so far by KLM Safaris. The company plans to increase this number by hiring more women in the near future.
According to the company’s Sustainability Report, the minimum salary offered to porters is TZS 25,000 per day, which Managing Director Gileard explained “is the salary recognised by Kilimanjaro National Park – KINAPA Tanzania and Porters Associations.”
Shared Responsibility
As brave and determined individuals who struggle to find their space in a male-dominated society and workspace, these women – like many others – would be able to make bigger strides in the right environment.
I think that creating a positive and inspiring environment for women to thrive in is a shared responsibility, especially true when it comes to tourism.
What this industry’s actors, on one side, and travellers, on the other, have in common is a great power of influence which comes from their often privileged social and economic position.
Regardless of its origin, though, this advantage can be used to shift the focus to necessary discussions and social change.
Such a resourceful industry cannot afford to ignore the impact it has on the lives of its workforce. Because if its conduct is not ethical, then the empire built upon its actions cannot boast of creating benefit.
In Tanzania the ‘Mountain Lioness Scholarship’ by Exodus is an example of the use of such power of influence for the right cause.
This programme, supported through the company foundation, “helps these ambitious women take five crucial modules taught over a three-week period, to help them gain their Guide License.”.
In November 2020 the first 10 guides graduated and the company is about to reach their goal of providing tour guide training to a total of 30 local women.
Up to the present day, 19 porters of those who completed the training are currently working for the UK-based company, which is also engaged in increasingly popular female-only departures.
This inspiring project shows us that when the industry recognises and assumes its responsibility, social change in the industry becomes possible, and this can also reward all.
Small but Mighty
KLM Safaris is just a little player in a field of giants with immense resources, connections and influence.
It is surely encouraging to see companies like Exodus using their position and means as a force for good.
We are equally thrilled to see how small tourism enterprises like KLM Safaris and their passionate team, as many others in East Africa and worldwide, are doing their very best to support the sustainable development of their own destination, starting from the ethical inclusion of the local women in the industry.
Thanks to allies like Sustainable Travel & Tourism Africa (STTA), local tour operators like KLM Safaris are improving their ability to positively impact the working conditions of local women like Nakijwa and Getruda, by making small but important changes.
Have a look at the company’s Sustainability Report and their Sustainability Certificate provided by STTA, on their website, which shows their commitment to the sustainability journey.
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We leave our young ladies to get ready for their next hiking trip to Kibo’s peak.
We hope that their new adventure will continue to inspire their dreams so that they will never run out of fuel, because it is a long and challenging journey, but full of bliss and successes.
Words by Elisa Spampinato
Read more about Exodus Travels’ Mountain Lionness Scholarship and other pioneering initiatives in our 2023 round-up of gender equality wins in tourism.
