Isn’t it worth considering that the community of the places you visit is uplifted? After all, it is the places that you visit and the people that you meet along the way that give you a new perspective on looking at things, perhaps even offer a paradigm shift. Sublime Trails has community support ingrained in its core so that the people who are on their travels and the people who make the travel possible are on equal footing.
One of the problems that are glossed over when we are talking about travel is the huge inequality that comes about in the distribution of the profits that make travel possible. For example, the porters who make your trek possible are people who come from underprivileged families- often without a great deal of financial backup. We ensure that their demands of fair wages are not simply met, but are given enough financial security to take them from positions of economic strife to some sort of security. We also supported several porters until they made it as guides and found economic solace. Some of them even went on to run their travel groups and managed to uplift their families from the harsh realities of poverty.
Another way to show support to the community through tourism is by identification of problems. We generally have guides and porters and even community heads who directly converse with us about a problem that is afflicting the community. For example, in the case of the unavailability of teachers in certain remote corners of Nepal, we actively seek volunteers who want to make a positive change in an underdeveloped society. In addition to the recruitment of volunteers, we also ensure that volunteering is sustainable by providing them with necessary incentives.
Sublime Trails is also a great believer in the protection of the rights of children. And these rights include the rights to education and health. So if you meet a child of a family who cannot partake in school and educational activities due to economic problems, we encourage you not to hand out money directly to children. You can act safely as a sponsor if you tell your guide, who will let us know about your intentions. Then. you can make monthly donations for their school fees. As a part of supporting the community, we also urge our travelers not to take their photographs without permission or take children anywhere without permission- even if you have the kindest of intentions.
In the vast ocean that is the world of travel, you are bound to come up with cultures that might be in opposition to your values. But as long as no human rights are violated, we, at Sublime Trails, also promote the values of tolerance and respect for the religion and cultures of these communities. We also uphold the values of IIPT, the International Institute of Peace Through Tourism: which says that every traveler can become an ambassador of peace through tourism. After being heavily influenced by IIPT, we also made it our core to preserve and enhance the cultural heritage of the places we take you, to reconcile and heal the wounds of conflict (if present) wherever you travel, and to improve the harmony that exists among people: all of which are important facets of community support tourism