Hajja Salesjana November December 2016

9 The sixth day was the day before summit, we only had a short five hour walk through rocky desert up to Barafu Hut (altitude 4662m). However the altitude already started taking its toll. The final ascent to Barafu Hut leaves you quite breathless and worrying about the final ascent to the summit. The name of this site translates into ‘ice hut’ reflecting the extreme cold arctic weather at night and the fact that up to a few decades ago, this area was covered by one of the fast melting glaciers, the unfortunate result of global warming. We had time to eat warm food and rest in preparation for the most important and final ascent. Summit Night: time ticked by, and the moment had finally come for us to start gearing up to walk up to the summit. At 11.30pm we started our grueling trek in the dark and cold night, aiming to reach the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Believe me, it was extremely cold! We were all geared up with clothes for extreme weather, but the peripheries of our bodies – hands, face - still felt the tremendous cold, becoming numb and purple. We were walking and walking, snaking up the steep slopes to the Kilimanjaro summit. Worth noting that at this height, the oxygen levels decrease with every step you take. It even goes down to just 10% at the peak, which is just half of the normal 21% oxygen level in air at sea level! Every few slow steps make you feel like you’ve run a whole marathon with every cell in your body screaming for more oxygen! Just stopping to take some sips of water is an effort, and calling out to your guide to stop for a drink-break is a huge energy wasting task! I ended up losing my voice with the extremely cold wind. It was so dark, that I could barely see a meter in front of me. You just follow the steps of the person in front of you. Slow step after slow step, rock after rock, the minutes and hours tumble slowly by, and the energy and oxygen continue depleting. All kinds of thoughts started passing through my mind: Why am I doing this? Why did I get this brilliant idea of climbing a mountain? Why am I putting myself through this torture? The only thing that kept me going was the fact that I had done all that training: I wasn’t going to stop now, after a whole year of training. The music on my iphone boosted my mood. Moreover, when all seemed to make no sense at all, I reminded myself that all this sacrifice was for the better future of the children, for the smiles that I will see on their faces within a few days. This kept me going a few more steps. It was a tremendously emotional night, I was feeling choked up, with tears streaming down my face almost throughout the whole night..... Quest for the Roof of Africa ( 3 ) by Claire Falzon We are pleased to bring to you the adventure of a lifetime Claire Falzon, a Physiotherapist, a Salesian Animator and SPYSmember, has recently embarked upon for a very noble cause. We will share with you her inspiring story bit by bit. Enjoy the climb to the breathtaking summit. Continues in the next issue