To get to the Kingdom of Mustang in Nepal, nestled near the Himalaya, you have to travel over mountains and through desert-like terrain for 12 days by donkey..
There you'll find the former Tibetan kingdom and its capital city, Lo Manthang, a community rich with culture that still farms hearty vegetables and once traded on the ancient Salt Route to China.
The monarchy was officially replaced by democracy in 2008, but the community's way of life is similar to the way it was in the 1500s, in the kingdom's heyday.
But all that's about to change.
A new highway that's currently under construction is about to speed up the modernization of Mustang's people, and not everyone is happy about it.
Sure, the people want internet and western medicine, but Mustang children have already started leaving the community to receive a "better" education in government schools that refuse to teach in their native language. The elders of the community fear the traditions and heritage of their people is beginning to vanish and will be lost.
And that's where
The Vanishing Cultures Project enters. The organization, which is currently applying for non-profit status, is run by two young American journalists, Taylor Weidman, 28, and Nina Wegner, 30, who document rapidly changing traditional cultures. They then self-publish a book with photos taken by Weidman and chapters on the culture written by Wegner.
They plan to use the profits from the book (available on their
website) to send back to the community to help fund grassroots initiatives to preserve their heritages. They hope donations can help fund their trips to the places they define as vanishing cultures.
NEPAL
The duo saw the community of Mustang's struggles firsthand during their trip to Nepal this year. Weidman was in Nepal working through a Fulbright Grant, and Wegner joined him on his journey. The pair realized they wanted to find a way to help.
They embedded themselves in the community using a former monk as a tour guide and translator.
As they spoke with community leaders, they learned that modernization was welcomed, but the leaders were worried that their language and traditions were being lost as more and more people left the community or turned to other professions.
"It was inspiring to see the grassroots steps by improvised, local people to preserve their own culture, and that's why we're doing this--to help those people," Wegner said.
Several of the community leaders had already started taking steps to preserve their, which encouraged the pair, Wegner said. Two brothers who practiced Tibetan medicine--a trade passed down through their family for generations--started a school to teach about the anatomy, chemistry, and science that goes into Tibetan medicine to help make sure it doesn't vanish.
And the retired monks in the community have reverted to the traditional spoken word to pass along stories of their cultures prosperity. Every Wednesday night they sit around exchanging tales of the life of the Loba people.
MOVING FORWARD
"We went into this thinking, 'oh, we're going to be documentarians and we're going to change the world,' but to change the world you have to do so much office work. And so much paper work. It was technically hard to do and a big attitude adjustment...we have to wear all these different hats," Wegner said.
The pair currently spends half the year writing grants and dealing with paper work, and the rest of the year traveling.
They plan to document one culture a year, spending six months at a time with the people they choose to document and help.
They leave for Mongolia in March. In Mongolia, where the people have nomadic herding background, harsh winters have been killing livestock. Mining companies are coming in, helping the economy boom. But there's still a staggering rate of 20% unemployment rate among 15-24 year olds in the country, Wegner said..
"Global diversity is a good thing. It's inherently good, and most people agree it's valuable, so for the sake of that, documentary projects like this are valuable," Wegner said. "Heritage and culture are huge motivating factors for personal identity, socially and economically. Having a strong sense of your heritage actually gives you a strong sense of self worth and that translates into life, economic and social success. So there are psychological benefits of people holding on to their heritage and a wider community good of having a really robust, healthy population where we can learn from each other."
Wegner and Weidman were kind enough to share some photos of Mustang with us.
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A caste system still exists in the Mustang region, based on whether a person's ancestors were born into the royal family or a position of power.
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After speaking with the Loba, Wegner learned that children in government schools go through an assimilation-like program. They're taught in Nepali and banned from speaking their native Tibetan. Children are even stripped of their Tibetan names and re-named in Nepali, she was told.
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Everyone works in Mustang. It's hard to support a noble class economically, but the noble class is better educated, and seem to make better leaders because of it, Weidman said.
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There's only one crop a year and the cabbage often fails, Weidman said.
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"I hope after flipping through our books, people gain some understanding of these people, see the beautiful culture," Weidman said. "My end goal is that people see how awesome the world is and want to do something to help protect that."
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It's a weeklong hike from the nearest airport to the capital city of Lo Manthang. Helicopters only come in for medical emergencies.
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On a day-to-day basis, the people are mostly excited about being connected to the infrastructure of Nepal, Weidman said. It's the leaders who fear that their traditions will be diluted.
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That's where the Vanishing Cultures Project idea stemmed from. The pair, experienced journalists, decided to document what these cultures were like right now and help support them by talking about their issues.
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The community leaders in Lo Manthang told Weidman that they were sad about the new road being built through their town. They were worried that it would make their kids even more disconnected from their culture, and bring in more changes.
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The higher caste members were well-educated and most could speak English, making the interview process easier for Weidman and Wegner.
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The pair found the Loba to be very friendly, but a key step in the process was earning the people's trust and helping them realize they weren't there to exploit them.
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The region only supports hearty crops because of the desert-like terrain; they include potatoes, barley, peas, mustard, cabbage, and beans.
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There's still a king, but technically he has no real governing power. Now, people are elected to community leader positions. But the ex-nobility are still the ones prominently elected into these positions, Wegner and Weidman said.
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These cultures do welcome some modernization with open arms and want the new facilities and western medicine. But there's a fear of balancing heritage with incorporating new world technology and ideas, Wegner said.
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This is Mustang, in the Northern part of Nepal, on the border of Tibet. The Loba, who live here, were originally Tibetan, but when border lines were redrawn they wound up in Nepal.
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UNESCO has recognized Lo Manthang as a world heritage site and has said that Lo Manthang is one of the best-preserved Medieval cities in the world.
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Wegner and Weidman met a monk who took some steps to preserve the culture, including starting a school in Lo Manthang so students didn't have attend far-away government schools.
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Weidman and Wegner hope that in the future, the Vanishing Cultures Project can incorporate video and audio to document the language of the people with whom they embed themselves.
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Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/vanishing-cultures-project-nepal-2011-12?op=1#ixzz3B25b7ESy
