Spreading Smiles in the Himalayas with DoW Causes & Steemit

Some nine years back I started my travel blog "DevilOnWheels", I just had one thing in mind "Do something good for the Himalayas and its people". I was not in a very good shape of my life, kind of in despair & depressed, fighting for the urge to survive. No pills, no consultancy, no psychiatrist visits worked for me and my family. They knew I was going towards the abyss of life.

^{The Light of Hope & Happiness}

Then came a trip to the Himalayas which changed everything in my life. A couple of more visits knowing the extreme hardships and struggle of the people living up there in the remote region of the Himalayas and I was no longer the person I was before. Literally speaking, it was "new me" or you can say a kind of a reincarnation for me. It was the year 2009, the moment I came back from my Chandratal trip, I decided to do something for the people of the Himalayas and that gave birth to my travel blog.

I used to travel there in remote regions of the Himalayas and feel the hardships as well as joys of local lives by living with the locals. I soon started to realize there is no one to support them from outside. I heard the ugly stories from them in tears that the city travel agent or agency don't pay off the poor driver or porter or guide their sum of money for the season. They could not afford to send their kid to school or college because some city guy exploited them for the services and now nowhere to find. Those travel agents will either give these poor locals pennies and drew hefty benefits from the tourists OR they will disappear without paying these locals their share at times.

While living up there, I will see those small small kids will be hiking/walking miles and miles to reach one odd school but still have an abundance of smiles on their faces. While I compared those with air-conditions buses that our kids have in cities and still rant about x number of things. I will see those roadside workers making roads for us and working in freezing conditions, some in just slippers only and minimal clothing to fight the cold risking their lives.

^{The Happy Monks}

All these things shook me up, made me humble and realize that my problems in life are nothing in comparison. As we say, "Mountains make you humble and make you realize how small you are in front of mother nature". It gave me a purpose in life, "to go back and do something good for them". Since then I never looked back and I did whatever possible in my small individual capacity even after hailing from a not so-well-todo family. I would go on my trips carrying chocolates, toys, stationary material and distribute them myself to the locals in the villages or hand over the medicines to the local pharmacy.

Soon with some technical skills and God's grace, I could help get the traffic on my blog and started promoting local drivers, guides, porters and local homestays directly. There was a win-win situation for both the traveler/tourist who gets a better deal and for the local who gets the direct money in hand. Travelers/tourists got all the information they required to make a successful trip to these remote regions while locals in the Himalayas got a platform to promote them directly. Many homestays have grown now from 1-2 rooms to 8-10 rooms, many drivers have grown from rented taxis to their own 3-5 taxis, some own hotel now and there is positive vibe all around. I did not earn money as my fellow bloggers did but the blessings and respect I have earned in last few year from these locals are more than priceless in this world !! Above all, I found the purpose of my life and I am happy more than ever today with all of it.

^{Even the frozen lake and freezing temparatures could not stop us from spreading smiles}

^{As we spread smiles in Hanle}

In 2013, seeing the noble efforts, more and more people wanted to join hands and to do for the Himalayas. Finally, with my friend Aashish & Sany, we gave birth to the not-for-profit, non-commercial DoW Community Forums and then in 2014 we launched the concept of DoW Causes & DoW Mega Meets. I will not bore you by providing in-depth details about them and if interested you can read more about them at DoW - Causes | A Step Towards Responsible Travel. Along this noble journey I also met @goel.tarun who hails from the Himalayas and now a wonderful friend helping us get the right people in contact to execute these causes.

1. What are DoW - Causes?

DoW - Causes is a kind of social responsibility initiative from DoW Community where a traveler/tourist is expected to contribute in his/her own small individual capacity measures. We expect that the members of our community who will be visiting various parts of Himalayas in time to come will try to support these small, small causes in order to provide direct help to the people of Himalayas and help them grow in their own sense and space.

While executing these causes in the Himalayas, any individual as tourist or traveler can bring any of the following

• bring some school stationery with them to distribute among the small kids who cannot afford it much
• bring some general OTC medicines or medical/first-aid kits to be donated at the small local pharmacy that can serve the locals in the time of need
• bring some warmth by donating warm clothes and shoes to the roadside workers who fight the merciless cold conditions to build roads for us or other people in need up there in the Himalayas
• bring some toys to spread smiles on the local kids who are deprived some such toys of outer world while living in remote villages the Himalayas.

Apart from many of these individual capacity causes, we were also able to successfully setup a local library in Kaza, Spiti Valley, organized a dental checkup camp in Harsil, a cleanup drive in Kasol and four mega meets contributing to the large amounts of local needs in last few years. Remember none of us from our community have backup or support and we all do a 9-5 job for a living. So, it means a lot to all of us associated with these little causes and accolades we have achieved.

^{That's how DoW Spiti Library Looked From Inside}

^{Getting ready for the cleanup drive in Kasol}

^{A Dental Camp at Harsil Village}

^{A Dental Camp at Harsil Village}

The Noble "Need" Initiative by Brendon aka @hendix22

In December 2017, I came across this awesome amazing platform "Steemit", all thanks to @firepower and @goel.tarun who introduced me to it. I was just swimming in the waters here, reading, writing, browsing and learning a lot of stuff about this awesome platform full of wonderful people like @hendix22, @surpassinggoogle, @sallybeth or @aburmeseabroad, etc..

Then a couple of days back, I stumbled upon across this noble initiative #hendrix22lovesyou Initiative. In this initiative, he wants people to create a post based on their "Need Connection". You can also participate in it, in case you have any genuine need and can explain who you are, what you need, why you need it and what it would mean to you.

I did not think about using Steemit to expand the concept of DoW Causes until I came across his noble initiative. I did not think twice and shared my feeling in a comment and very soon I saw a reply from him offering all the support. I felt very positive and encouraged and called up few of my local friends in Spiti & Ladakh to ask for the demands at local monasteries and local school kids in the villages. Though the stationary material is always in need, local monasteries need will be shared with me later in the week.

^{Taking selfie while spreading smiles}

^{A classroom in Zanskar}

^{Excited children after getting their packs of school stationary kits}

Read this one of the notes sent by a community member on our FB wall and we felt so humbled. This is how we have been inculcating the spirit of responsible travel and human connection in the tourists/travelers coming to us for guidance for their trips. We always felt that even if we could change 1/100, we would feel happy. The results are far better than we thought because world if full of wonderful people like them as well:

^{It was not just us, others were spreading smiles too}

DoW Causes, #hendrix22lovesyou & Needs Connection in Future

It does not end with this post only. With this post, I will like to ask all of you to offer your kind support in spreading more smiles in the Himalayas by helping us execute more causes. I have asked our core team members to dedicate themselves to execute these causes themselves and the likes of @goel.tarun, @himalayanwomb are always there to help us get in touch with right folks and doing it themselves too.

Though this post goes with #hendrix22lovesyou initiative, I have convinced myself to write at least one post in a week under the topic of #dow-causes to track it and use the money generated from all those articles/stories for executing these DoW Causes up there in the Himalayas by traveling every two months for this purpose only. I am sure we will be able to spread a lot of smiles with 8 articles (1 per week) and fulfill the needs of a lot of local Himalayan people.

Along with each one of you who can do, I will also request @goel.tarun, @himalayanwomb & others here on Steemit hailing from the Himalayas, if possible for them, do the same every week and participate in spreading more smiles in the Himalayas with hendrix22lovesyou, Needs Connection & DoW Causes.

Thank you @hendix22 again,
Julley from Himalayas (meaning greetings - love, namaste, good morning/evening etc..)

^{Those priceless smiles, Help In Spreading More...}