Hiking Mount Kilimanjaro
… only the beginning of the adventure into Africa!
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The plan to hike Mount Kilimanjaro began as I was thinking of ways to celebrate my 25th wedding anniversary. With this idea, the question arose, “What can we do to give back, rather than just take away?” At the same time, Quentin, a colleague from the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital, was hosting a fundraiser to support war-wounded amputees in Sierra Leone. We met to discuss what we could do together to raise money and bring awareness to some of the problems in Africa, other than AIDS. We specifically chose three projects we wanted to target. Hence, the beginnings of Hands Across Africa.
We began doing presentations in the winter of 2004 to promote our goal, hiking Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money and raise awareness of three projects in Africa. Over the first few months, about 25 people came onboard. They were interested in the cause and, of course, the hike. Our first fundraiser was a concert that featured Isokan, a local African band. We held a raffle, sold Safeway cards, held a talent night at the Glenrose, an art auction where many local artists donated a piece of their art, and then our grand finale this past June, a concert where a couple of local bands as well as Isokan performed. In total, we raised about $100,000, which we have been told is very impressive for such a small group. Half the money went to the Rehabilitation Clinic in Moyamba, Sierra Leone, which Quentin had briefly visited five years earlier. One-quarter went to Amani Children’s Home, an orphanage in Moshi, Tanzania, at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro. The other 25% went to Edmonton-based Edzimkulu, an NGO doing much-needed AIDS prevention work in Ndwana, South Africa.
Quentin and his wife Suraiya, my husband Bobby and I went to Moyamba following the hike. Bobby, a local writer/producer/cameraman, was there about two weeks, shooting footage with plans of putting together a documentary. I was there about five weeks, looking at the programs offered at the clinic, evaluating needs and where monies needed to go. Quentin remained volunteering at the clinic and Suraiya volunteered at an orphanage school until June 2007.
There are many programs offered through the clinic. Moyamba, like the rest of Sierra Leone, was left with many war-wounded individuals, amputees, children left without parents and housed in orphanages or raised by grandparents, malnourished children and seniors with many disabilities. Life is difficult in Sierra Leone even for people without disabilities. Most people are fortunate to be getting one meal per day. Poverty and all the problems that surround poverty are present.
What seems to magnify the problems is the entrenchment of traditional beliefs. Malnourished babies are hidden from view because of embarrassment and shame, as the parents believe the child is cursed. Medical attention would be sought as a last resort. Deaf children as well are treated as possessed or cursed, and the medicine man/woman would do all that could be done to remove the devil/curse. If there is no change, the child is sometimes left in the bush (we met one such child) or dropped off at the orphanage. So many of these beliefs are based on fear, and people are unable to move forward. They believe they are doing the right thing based on their traditions and belief. Much support and education is needed, and this is what the clinic offers.
Change happens very slowly because people have to buy in, and that is where the difficulty lies -- the buy-in. As well, change has to happen from the inside out, not outsiders coming in trying to make change.
The clinic offers a nurse, physiotherapy, occupational therapy (Quentin, an occupational therapist, is training the staff), programs to assist seniors with disabilities, mother and child nutrition programs, and outreach programs that take them into the surrounding villages. The clinic provides hands-on therapy, education and support.
An example of the outreach program includes a weekly visit to Levuma, a village 45 minutes from Moyamba. On one of the visits, we discovered a woman who appeared to be very distressed and not well. Her husband told us that she had had a fever a week ago and that since then she had "not been right." He said she was seeing things and that he and the other men in the village could not hold her down. We convinced the Paramount Chief to let us take her to hospital in Moyamba. We met the doctor the next day and he revealed to us that the village thought she was possessed or cursed, so they flogged her. This is what is believed about anyone who is not behaving "normally". They appear to be very tied to their traditional beliefs.
On another note, there is so much corruption from the top level of government that trickles all the way down to the people. There are not many Africans who have hope in their present social systems. Everyone wants a piece of the pie, so by the time any dollars slotted for a certain program have passed a few hands, there is nothing left to put anything in place. All the locals we had spoken to stated that a political leader with integrity, good values and who cared about putting social structures in place would change the fabric of Africa. This could start the beginning of the end to poverty.
Despite the poverty and in some cases, despicable living situations, the people in Sierra Leone are friendly and for the most part, happy. They are very engaging and appear to have an inner strength that can only occur from living the hard life. Although we sometimes felt overwhelmed at the magnitude and complexity of the problems we faced, we were welcomed with beautiful smiles and a quiet appreciation for our efforts. Our small drop into a very large bucket may not change the lives of many, but we were able to reach out and lift the lives of those around us, and in doing so, we too were uplifted. We are not naive enough to believe that the complicated issues that gnaw at this society are going to disappear. However, because of the good work of Hands Across Africa, we know those small drops will have a rippling affect.
Hands Across Africa is planning another "adventure" in Africa to again raise money and raise awareness of some of the problems. None of the money raised will go to the adventure. We guarantee all of the money raised will go directly to the projects. As previously mentioned, money often does not get to where it is slated, so it is important for us to ensure that it does.
We are doing a video of the hike up Mount Kilimanjaro. We had hoped to market it to CBC or another network. However, Bobby, our cameraman, experienced altitude sickness and was unable to make the ascent to the summit, so we have no footage of the final ascent. We are still putting together a video, but we will market it elsewhere. The proceeds will go to our projects.
We have more plans in the works. Join us if you are interested.
Catherine
Co-founder
Hands Across Africa
