Blog
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Remembering David Breashears, American Himalayan climber and filmmaker
On March 15th, David Breashears, the pioneer American Himalayan climber and filmmaker, died at his home in Virginia. There are many great tributes available. Find Outside Magazine’s wonderful article, featuring Ang Phula Sherpa, here.
We want to say a few things from our Musa Masala family and friends who knew David well. He has been a help to Musa Masala since the beginning. He wrote a blurb for our book, Musa Masala: Mountain Girl of the Himalaya.
A Puja for our Friends we Lost
In late April of 2022 the Musa Masala team came together to celebrate the incredible lives of our friends who were involved in the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital project who so sadly and too early left this world. They all devoted their lives to helping others and strove to make the world that much better for us all — and they never got to see the finished hospital open.
We planned a puja ceremony to honor their memory and our love for them. It has taken a while but here is the video of the ceremony, filmed with permission of the monks at the Khamding Monastery in Nepal.
The Musa Masala Nursing Scholarship Program
This scholarship program is a project we've hoped to start since the beginning of Musa Masala.
The idea to help provide for the medical education for young people living in the area around the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital has been brewing and stewing all through its construction. Now, as the hospital is open and offering quality healthcare, we are proud to say that we have three students in medical programs in Kathmandu who all are from the local area.
A Puja for our Friends
For the first time in three years, the Musa Masala team was back together. Arriving at the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital Tapting at the end of April, we had come to paint the pediatric room in honor of our friend, Dr. Jennifer Konopka. Jen had been a powerful force in Musa Masala and a big supporter of the hospital project.
Remembering Megan Rand
Recently we all suffered a horrible loss. Our friend and fellow Musa, Megan Rand, passed after being diagnosed with cancer in June of 2021. Megan was 39 years old. She was a physician assistant and former paramedic and her passing has left us once again at a loss for why special, talented, kind and loving people are leaving us all behind.
Remembering Dr. Paul Auerbach
From all of us at Musa Masala, we send our love and biggest hugs and unending gratitude to the family and friends of Dr. Paul Auerbach. Paul left us last week, after a year's battle with a brain tumor. Battle he did to the end, facing his future and walking right up to it. Few have a life as amazingly successful as Paul did, and few have truly changed the world for the better as Paul did.
Remembering Gary McLean
We are shattered to let you know our friend Gary McLean died Monday, June 14th, during our trip in Portland, Oregon. We had just celebrated his birthday, a wonderful evening with friends.
Gary was a Air Force Vietnam veteran, a member of the first paramedic class in Oregon, a firefighter and a nurse. He was a friend and mentor to so many. Gary showed by example that you can be a holy man without preaching, an empathetic caregiver and an enthusiastic partner to go into the world with and make it better—act by act, patient by patient, deed by deed.
Our friend Dr. Jen: Optimism and True Moral Courage
This is a very sad time at Musa Masala. We have lost one of our members, our friend and an inspiration to us all. Dr. Jennifer Kurmaski Konopka was a powerhouse, a true energy source. Dr. Jen leaves behind a loving husband, brothers and sisters and her patients, who loved her. Jen was a pediatrician who had a thriving practice.
You don’t start an organization designed to help people and imagine these things happening. The greatest gift of Musa Masala has been meeting incredible individuals doing meaningful and wonderful things around the world. It is a people-affirming privilege to enjoy the company of caring, enthusiastic doctors, nurses, paramedics, EMT’s and mountain and trekking guides. I think Jen would say the same thing. She set such an example for me in every interaction we had, I will continue to think of her and let her actions lead me to be a better person.
Remembering Wongchu Sherpa: My Father's Dream
Every father has their own dream for their children, but my father’s dreams were especially unique. My father, the late Mr. Wongchhu Sherpa, was born in a remote area of the Everest region, Tapting-1, Chyangba Village. He breathed his last breath at age 48 in December, 2015.
He was not only my father, but with the way he helped others, many saw him as their own godfather. Because his ideas were dynamic and progressive, he became iconic.