I once read somewhere that all the crimes of the world are
different forms of stealing (it probably was “The Kite Runner”…I genuinely hope
my lack of originality does not turn you off so early on though). Theft is obviously synonymous with stealing.
Murder is stealing someone’s life. Rape is stealing someone’s self esteem. The
list goes on. I cannot deny the truth of this. All crime is rooted in the same
cause.
There is however, in my world at least, another way of
looking at this that reveals an equally gruesome crime. All crime is actually
derived from the same effect, missed opportunity. Stealing is someone’s missed
opportunity to use the money to invest, to vacation…or more importantly to eat.
Murder is someone’s missed opportunity to spend time with a loved one. Rape is
someone’s missed opportunity at a healthier life.
It is also criminal that children the world over still miss
an opportunity to achieve their full potential due to lack of access to
resources as basic as education. There’s a reason there have been so few African
Nobel Prize winners, and I promise you it has everything to do with there being
so few African university students. There is also a reason African nations
still lag behind on most development metrics, and I promise you it has
everything to do with the type of aid they are getting. They are getting a lot
of fish but no one is teaching them how to fish.
I know this because I am not too far removed from observing the
effects a proper education could have on someone’s life and even that of his
community. I wish I could say this story is about me, but that would take away
from the mammoth effort my parents put to raise this middle class brat. This story
is about another Abdallah Mukalled. An infinitely greater Abdallah Mukalled. It
is about my grandfather. He left school at 6 and soldiered through a life of
poverty. He grew up in 1950s Beirut where classism was still very much a
reality. The clichés of a poor family are true. While everyone around him was raising
a family of 8 children and sinking into the abyss of mediocrity, he was a
visionary. He had two kids. He sacrificed sweat blood and tears to educate
them. It is that simple. His kids would go to university no matter what. He
died with very little to his name but by god has his name endured. The rest is
obvious. My father seized the opportunity he was offered and produced a litter
of upper middle class grade A douches. He went on to work in aid organizations and
help people all around the world. The past 10 years, he has worked 30 minutes
away from the village where my grandfather was born and has helped develop the
area in a way that no politician or neo-feudal lord ever would. Abdallah would tell my father every single day
“my only heirloom to you is your education…so don’t mess it up”.
This brings us to the Kiliminjaro climb. No one on our team
is far removed from a similar story. This one is mine. To sit here and say that
the climb is just a natural progression from the above and that all along I was
only climbing because I wanted to pay homage to the great man that is my
grandfather would be, well, lying. Fact of the matter is it all started with an
idea, than a challenging stare from Nic and Nas, then an incredulous look as I actually
accepted. In fact, if I am to be awfully honest I knew absolutely nothing about
the charity when I first signed up. Serendipity, though, is a beautiful thing. I
have always had two dreams for my millionaire years. The first is buying an
Aston Martin vanquish. The second is starting a Abdallah Mukalled Scholarship
at my alma mater, the American University of Beirut (naturally this is in
reference to my grandfather, because despite an inherent sense of entitlement I
am not that much of a douche). The Aston Martin is still miles away, to say the
least. We are talking distance to the moon miles here. But god, the force, the
spaghetti monster, you name it has given me a twisted chance to achieve the
second dream. My priorities shifted. Fund raising to start a university
scholarship fund for the Hanne Howard fund makes me want to break out in song.
I am thinking Journey-Don’t Stop Believing, but at this stage I am so psyched even
Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah would do.
The kids at the Hanne Howard foundation deserve a university
education and they deserve to achieve their full potential. They deserve to
change their lives. For years people have been donating to build a well in a
village and to feed an African child. Not to sound like a cliché here, but
people would have been better served if they were educated on how to build
wells or in order to feed themselves. It is criminal that there are generations
of Kenyan Children who missed the opportunity to fulfill their potential. This
is your chance change that. This is your chance to fight crime by helping them realize
their full potential. You may never don a batman cape on the streets of your
city, but this is your chance to be the true Dark Knight. Carpe Diem!
https://www.justgiving.com/climingkili/
https://www.justgiving.com/climingkili/
