So the dust has settled, my bags are unpacked, the adventure
seems to be over.... this has to be the hardest blog I have to write.
So much has happened in the time since the last time I wrote about our
impending adventure.
I recall writing that the same person that goes up Kili
never comes down, and I stick by that, for two reasons Kilimanjaro has changed
me forever.
Firstly climbing Kilimanjaro was always 70/30 split between
personal ambition of climbing the mountain and doing some good for charity. If
I am honest, the Charity element always took a back seat.
However after actually going to the slums, hearing the
stories and spending the afternoon playing with the kids who have absolutely
nothing, the focused changed. My personal ambition became empty, a bitter taste
in my mouth signifying a remnants of my selfishness.
What these kids go through is horrific, their reality is
something that I hope none of us ever have to bare. Children with no parents
and HIV living in a tin house with 30 people to a room.
The kids didn’t want to give us their sob stories, I had to
learn about their horrific past and damned future from the adults, all the kids
wanted to do was play. Nothing delighted them more than being picked up and
thrown at Nic, who at one point had 10 or so kids climbing on him.
The second lesson learned was the importance of the team.
Mountain climbing is always a selfish thing to do. The very basics is that “I”
want to get to the top.
On this trip however the selfish “I” soon disappeared as the
band of misfits joined together to completely transcend any selfish desire. The
team developed into one amazing unit, and whereas before I openly said to the
guys, that I would leave them if they had to turn around. We soon developed a
bond that meant I would have rather died than left any one of my team on the
side of the mountain.
It seems strange to even acknowledge this, but the mountain is almost insignificant now. The real success is the desire I have to do more for charity and seeing what my team mates have become.
Abduallah and his ability to look as if he was taking a stroll through the mall, always badly singing in Arabic, Swahili or English. Ameer, who should have turned around halfway through the night, but kept going on and on and on, even when he showed all the signs of an exhaustion and hypothermia. Nic, who made this all happen, quite literally pulled everyone together, and despite a horrible illness on the mountain just carried on and rallied the troops.
It seems strange to even acknowledge this, but the mountain is almost insignificant now. The real success is the desire I have to do more for charity and seeing what my team mates have become.
Abduallah and his ability to look as if he was taking a stroll through the mall, always badly singing in Arabic, Swahili or English. Ameer, who should have turned around halfway through the night, but kept going on and on and on, even when he showed all the signs of an exhaustion and hypothermia. Nic, who made this all happen, quite literally pulled everyone together, and despite a horrible illness on the mountain just carried on and rallied the troops.
Kilimanjaro was “epic” and getting to the top meant a lot to
me, but it was nothing compared to the brothers I made out of friends, and the
drive to not simply see atrocities on TV and simply say “that’s horrible”
The last line in my blog however shouldn’t be about
me; it should be about you, everyone who donated to a cause.
Without your support and the support of Thomson Reuters, North Face, Talise everyone who gave gifts for the pub quiz, this could never have happened,
and believe me when I say your money will significantly change the lives of
people half way across the world who have less than nothing. So from the bottom
of my heart I thank you!
