Dubai: It isn’t every day that a group of women get together to scale one of the world’s highest mountains. And it certainly is no small feat that the group raised funds to the tune of $135,000 (Dhs495,728) in the process.
A dozen Dubai-based women led by famed adventurer Suzanne Houby, the first Arab woman to scale Mount Everest, recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in support of the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF).
Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa at 5,895 metres.
The team consisting of first-time adventurers was also joined by a 16-year-old Jordanian boy who helped keep the spirits of the group high.
Though Suzanne has led many an adventure across different continents, she says leading a group of tyros was a different experience altogether.
“I was honoured to lead this group in their biggest personal challenge yet: climbing Kilimanjaro. When I first started climbing, the sport was practically alien to the Arab World, so to end up many years later sharing this passion with 12 individuals was one of the richest experiences of my life,” Houby noted.
The idea of climbing Kilimanjaro to help raise awareness and funds for the first paediatric cancer unit in Palestine through PCRF came up between Suzanne and Reeman Joudeh, who at that time was just looking for a personal challenge. However, they were soon joined by 12 others who were just as committed to make a difference.
After long months of exacting physical training and events to raise funds and awareness for the paediatric cancer unit, the group landed in Tanzania feeling both ready and anxious for the challenge. Between lost luggage, severe altitude sickness, headaches, cold weather, tears and giggles, the team kept pushing, transfixed on their goal in spite of all odds and difficulties with a fierce desire to make a difference to lives of underprivileged Palestinian children.
“We started our orientation and training programme a couple of months before the actual expedition but no matter how much you try to familiarise them with what they would face on the mountains, people only realise the difficulties when they experience it,” Suzanne said. For her what was more interesting was to see how each of member of the team adapted to changing scenarios in their own way.
“The most important thing one has to pack with him/her on a mountain climb is the positive attitude. The true nature of a person comes out only when faced with harsh conditions and its then you can see how each person reacts. Such trips make you realise so much about yourself. It shows you how little is actually enough to survive. It is a fulfilling experience but it’s not easy. And to go through all the hardship to give life to others, that too children, makes the experience more fulfilling.”
Though, Suzanne admitted that Kilimanjaro is relatively an easy mountain to climb, it is obviously not a cakewalk, and never when you have a bunch of tyros across different age group, from their mid-40s to teenagers.
For 19-year-old Tammara Yassin, the youngest woman on the trip, it was a life-changing experience. “I think a lot of us underestimated this mountain. I am actually glad we did. It turned out to be so much hard work and a boundary-breaking journey; mentally, physically, and emotionally for all of us. I think what motivated all of us in the beginning was the charity work we had to do for the PCRF and the curiosity to get out of the materialistic lives we live and explore this journey.”
However, she said that it started to slowly dawn on her that this was going to be a little harder than expected during the briefings. “I think it was not until we had actually started with Day 1 on Kilimanjaro that it hit us. I realised that this would be no piece of cake and serious discipline, adaptation, and understanding needed to kick in,” she said.
“We had to listen, we had to learn to pace ourselves, we had to learn to keep hydrating, we had to learn to push ourselves, we had to learn to eat properly, and that none of these things was a joke. But along with these things came the beauty of this trip. After this journey I think a lot of us came down different than the way we were when we had first begun.”
At, 43, Nadia Wehbe was one of the older members of the group and she agreed the trip was just as life-changing for her. “I have been wanting to do it for a long time and I was waiting for the right time. With two little children to take care of, I always though it wasn’t possible. But when I got to know of the charity part I thought this is it. It was a challenge both mental and physical and it wasn’t easy. But once I achieved it, I just felt brilliant, the kind of feeling I have never had. It was euphoric to realise that the hard work has paid off. I felt a sense of achievement.”
She added that the experience has made her feel that there are no boundries or limits. “I felt control over my body and mind. When you push yourself continuously and you see that you can do more you realise that you can do anything.”
The climb began on July 7 and ended on July 13.
