Tanja and I are truly grateful
to Semiahmoo for a trip of a lifetime. We especially thank Zena for
making sure we had all the right equipment, all the necessary
documents, injections and medicines and for the hundreds of hours she
put in to make it all happen. Thanks too go to Jim and Ryan for their
encouragement, tips and support. A special thanks to the TLC team and
the Semi Automatics for not complaining when I was absent from work
for many reasons for Training , speaking at a fundraiser or putting on
a fundraiser.
A special mention and thanks to
Simon from Great West Fitness who took all of us gals to his heart and
gave of his time, energy and love so freely in hundreds of volunteer
hours training us. "What a guy" Thanks also go to Semi staff who
encouraged, prayed and watched our climb with enthusiasm. We all did
Semi proud.
And of course thanks to all who
financially supported the climb (and those that still will), the
programs at Semi will blossom because of you.
The climb was a wonderful
opportunity to promote ability rather than disability and every member
of the 45 person team did just that. We are so proud of the people we
supported, in fact I don’t think a day went by when someone or another
was in tears or awe of the accomplishments made on any given day. To
watch someone struggle with mountain sickness or slowness of stride,
yet persevere was very moving.
The climb was beautiful with
it’s changing Eco systems, from rain forest to moonscape conditions.
It was certainly a challenge both physically and mentally. Some of the
challenges were sleeping in tents, the dirt and moving forward despite
feeling sick or headachy and to be quite honest being with so many
people 24/7; at times 300 people were together in a small space. The
noise of voices was like thunder.!!
The highlights - the climb
itself - it was wonderful to be outdoors in Africa; meeting the people
both the Climbers and the beautiful African people; the views were
spectacular; overcoming the challenges - I will not say the food or
brown water ha ha; game viewing in the Gora Gora Crater and National
park; the celebration of so many successes at the end of the climb.
A huge highlight for me was
watching the joy on Tanja’s folk’s faces as they they spoke at our
home coming party. What a moving story they told of how Dr’s had
predicted at Tanja’s birth that she would not walk talk or even crawl
in her life time. And there she was having just summited Kilimanjaro.
They were almost bursting with pride. I saw many folk with tears as
they told their story and acknowledged that dreams when supported can
come true. I am truly grateful that I was chosen to support Tanja, she
is a beautiful women with many many strengths and abilities I will
miss our night time giggles.
As you can see the whole trip
was a highlight in our lives impossible to single out one thing.
The thing that stands out most
in my mind is the shining light beaming out of radiant changed eyes
and faces at the end of the climb. I know self esteem was build along
with pride and very changed lives because people dreamed and others
made it happen.
Sue Janetti
