Got a tip? Send it to us at manila@coconuts.co.
After Xyza Bacani, another domestic helper in Hong Kong is giving us another inspiring story.
Liza Avelino has been working as a domestic helper in Hong Kong for 19 years already. For two years she saved her salary so she can go to up Island Peak, which is less than 10 kilometers from Mount Everest. She is actually there now, conquering the mountain as we speak.
“She paid a trekking company US$3,500 [about PHP155,750] to help bring her to Island Peak, a snowy ridge popular among trekkers for its varied terrain and where temperatures can go up to minus 7-15 degrees Celsius. She is travelling with two Irish guides, three fellow hikers from Europe and a crew of sherpas,” writes Kristine Servando on the South China Morning Post.
She left Hong Kong on Saturday, April 4, and is set to be back by April 25.
On Monday, she was already at Namche village in Nepal, after which she plans to head out to Everest Base Camp for a 15-day trek. In Island Peak, she plans to pitch a Philippine flag.
According to the SCMP story, Avelino has been hiking on her days off for about 10 years now. “She saved up much of her holidays last year so she could go on a 22-day trek up the Himalayas,” the article notes.
Yesterday, she finally got a glimpse of Mount Everest. Quite a feat for Avelino, a native of Davao who left the country in 1996 to work as a domestic helper in Hong Kong.
Avelino considers herself lucky to always have supportive employers. “All they ask is that I come back in one piece,” she tells the SCMP.
Her first boss advised her to do ‘something more’ with her days off. Her second employer, meanwhile “encouraged her to join a hiking organization.” Last Christmas, her current employers, who give her plenty of free time by the way, gave Avelino a down jacket for her upcoming Himalayan trek.
In 2006, she joined the Hong Kong Trampers, with which she does 7-hour hikes every Sundays, and for which she regularly organizes treks in the Philippines.
After turning 40, the 44-year-old domestic helper set her eyes on Island Peak. “She promised herself that she would always be scaling a new mountain on her birthday from then on,” notes the SCMP story.
To train for the 6,189- Himalayan peak, Avelino went on a 3-day hiking trip to northern Japan, where she did some 16-hour non-stop climbing.
She actually wants to back to Japan “to climb their ice candy wall” as well as go to Peru to conquer the Alpamayo peak.
“You can set your own mountain – your own challenge – right? There is always another peak – it’s what keeps me motivated,” SCMP quotes her.
Photo: Liza Avelino/SCMP
Reader Interactions