Impaired SA kids conquer peak

2004-01-01 13:51

Johannesburg - Four partially-blind South African children spent their Christmas holiday climbing Africa's highest mountain - Tanzania's Kilimanjaro.

Lance de Villiers, who led the children, said on Thursday: "For Esau Masithi, Sithembele Ngema, Julia Ledwaba and Magdeline Mbewe, the experience will live on forever.

"In their minds, their school, their community, their country, they have shown that no dream is nurtured in vain, no obstacle too great to leave unchallenged.

"They touched the sky on December 18 when they stood on Uhuru Peak, but their achievements will carry them higher still in time to come."

De Villiers' company, Tribe Safari, hosts a yearly expedition specifically geared to help the visually impaired to climb to Uhuru Peak on Kilimanjaro, at 5 895m.

The four, all from the Filadelfia School for the Disabled in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, started their preparations from scratch.

Each item of equipment had to be obtained for them and their trip was fully paid through sponsorship.

Special guiding technique is used

De Villiers said: "This particular element proved almost as tough as the actual climb and was the main reason for the expedition taking more than two years to materialise.

"In 2002, the expedition had to be postponed at the last minute as not enough funds had been raised by the time of departure."

A special, subtle guiding technique is used to guide a blind person up a mountain.

Allowing for their acute sense of hearing and, to a large degree, spatial awareness, the guide's role is almost that of a communicator, pointing out difficult or dangerous parts and helping the person over difficult terrain.

The children were trained and by the time they left on December 13 had reached a peak of 3 000m in the Drakensberg.

Some had altitude sickness

The Marangu route was chosen for its relative degree of comfort and accessibility.

Each youngster was assigned a personal, trained guide.

Some of the children experienced some altitude sickness once above the 3 000m mark and a gradual process of acclimatisation was maintained, mostly due to the route's careful layout.

De Villiers said that reaching the summit was moving, for himself and the children.

"The group had christened this expedition Thinta Isibhakabhaka, Zulu for 'touch the sky'.

"There we were now, all of us, touching the sky. I forced myself not to think much then of what we had just achieved lest I burst into tears myself.

"It was enough to see fathers and sons next to me hugging, friends celebrating, the kids just being there".

- SAPA