Hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro
… only the beginning of the adventure into Africa!
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The idea came to hike Mt.Kilimanjaro as a 25th anniversary celebration. 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 Rehab 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 that 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 Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise money and awareness of three projects in Africa. Over the first few months, about 25 people came on board and were interested in the cause and of course the hike. Our first fundraiser was a concert which 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 where Quentin had visited briefly five years ago. One quarter went to Amani Children’s Home, an orphanage at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Moshi. The other 25% went to Edmonton’s Edzimkulu – which is an NGO doing much needed AIDS prevention work in Ndwana, South Africa.
Quentin and his wife Suraiya, me and my husband Bobby Jones, 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, evaluating needs and looking at the programs offered at the clinic and where monies needed to go. Quentin remains volunteering at the clinic and Suraiya is volunteering at an orphanage school – till June 2007.
There are many programs offered through the clinic. Moyamba, just 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 for people without any 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 hidden from view because of embarrassment and shame as the parents believe that the child is cursed. Medical attention would be sought as a last resort. Deaf children are treated as a child possessed or cursed as well 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 takes place 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 small 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 with the doctor the next day and he reveals to us that in fact, the village thought she was possessed or cursed and 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 by 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 African 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 were faced with, 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 for a moment that the complicated issues that continue to 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 awareness of some of the problems. None of the dollars goes to the ‘adventure’. We guarantee all of the money raised goes directly to the project. 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 Mt. Kilimanjaro. We had hoped to market it to CBC or another network, however due to Bobby, our cameraman, experiencing altitude sickness and unable to make the ascent to the summit, we have no footage of the final ascent. So, we are still putting together a video but we will be marketing it elsewhere. The proceeds will go to our projects.
We also have a couple of fundraisers planned for 2007, however, we will be meeting at the beginning of the year to decide as a group what will be our next adventure. Join us if you are interested.
Catherine
Co-founder
Hands Across Africa
