By Shigei Gebremedhin

“Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.” – Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr.

20 hours and 5 in-flight movies later, I finally arrived in Nairobi, Kenya.  I stood at the baggage claim, praying that my checked-in duffle bag would roll down the conveyor belt, as my experience has taught me that this is not a guarantee when it comes to international flights.

As I stood there, I saw a tall man donned with brand new hiking boots and an overstuffed backpack, and my intuition told me we were here for the same reason.

I turned around and asked if he had plans on climbing a mountain.  His eyes lit up and I immediately knew my intuition had served me well.  He too was a member of the 2011 Accenture-Voluntary Service Overseas Mount Kilimanjaro Corporate Challenge, and had been on my final connecting flight. As we sat in a cab from the airport to the hotel, I tried to balance my attention between my new friend and the view from the window.  It was almost as if I had an internal chant in my head…

We are in Nairobi, Kenya.  Nairobi…Kenya.  To climb Mount Kilimanjaro.  Mount…Kilimanjaro.  We are here.  I am here.  This is happening.

Day 1 primarily consisted of getting checked into the hotel and having dinner with the trek group.  As we got to know each other, it was clear that we were quite a diverse bunch, as we represented different cities from around the world, spoke different languages, fell in different age brackets, and held different positions within the firm.  Even with all these variances, I felt a sense of harmony around the table, of compassion, competitiveness, and excitement.

The morning of day 2, we regrouped and headed out to visit one of the projects, the Kenya Association of the Intellectually Handicapped (http://kaihid.org/) that benefited from the Mount Kilimanjaro Corporate Challenge trek.  We spent the day understanding the goals of the organization and had the opportunity to get to know some of the volunteers and beneficiaries.  The day reinforced the reasons why we were there and brought the real goal home.

Day 3, we crossed countries from Nairobi, Kenya to Marangu, Tanzania.  Between mini-naps, I noticed that the 10-hour drive exposed us to attractive forestry and plains.  We mentally prepared ourselves for the next morning where we planned to embark on our trek, beginning at the Rongai National Park gate.

Day 4 – 8, we saw both extremes of vegetation, from beautiful, lush rainforests to dry, barren desert land.  Days would begin with warm temperatures that required only t-shirts, shorts, and layers of sunscreen and would end with brutally cold nights that required at least 4 wool layers of clothes to survive in our frost coated tents.  We were left with only the most meager of resources, where the luxury of a warm shower was only a dream and nourishment was only enough to sustain us for our grueling journey.

Day 9 was the day that we would finally achieve our goal of reaching the Summit, which would have to be earned in one of the most exhausting physical and mental challenges that I have ever faced.  We left camp at 12-midnight to commence the trek up the steep scree slopes to Gillman’s Point, continuing around the rim, passed Stella Point and onto the highest point of Africa – Uhuru Point.  We experienced a snow-ice-rain storm that continued on for 36-hours.  We climbed for 8-hours in -10C degree weather and heavy snow, and quickly learned that the only way to get through it was to keep our heads down and let the light from our head torch guide the way.  Summit night included nausea, darkness, extreme cold, and a throbbing headache due to the altitude.  We focused on matching the stride of our leg to the swing of our arm with our walking pole.  All of us were pressed to our limits, and in spite of their valiant efforts, we succumbed to mountain sickness, exhaustion, and some of the many perils of our journey.  Nevertheless, the majority of us were able to reach the Summit of Kilimanjaro with the help of supportive guides and amazing porters, most of whom climbed the mountain at least 10 times.  Ridiculous.

There were 25 of us that were part of the Corporate Challenge, many of whom met their threshold on that mountain.  6 of the 25 capitulated before reaching Uhuru Point due to exhaustion or altitude sickness.  I never heard and saw so many people regurgitate.  Throughout our climb, we took 2-minute breaks to fuel our bodies with protein bars and water droplets from our frozen bottles.

As I reflect back on how I was able to reach the summit of 5,895m, I have come up with 4 reasons:

1. Charity:  I kept thinking of the volunteers and beneficiaries that we met our first full day in Nairobi

2. Friends/Family:  The generous fundraising supporters

3. Trek Group:  We looked out for each other on that mountain

4.  Personal drive:  There is no way I flew all this way, and for the last 5-consecutive days, slept on rocky slopes and stuffed myself with porridge and energy bars without reaching the top.

We spent only 15-minutes at Uhuru Peak.  We stood on the roof of Africa, and took pictures, tried to hug each other over down jackets, and just breathed – with the little oxygen that we could!  Although everyone’s hair and clothes were weighed down with ice, and our muscles screamed at us, we all felt so alive!  We were infected with excitement and a sense of achievement.  We made it.  Shortly after, we started our descent at record speed, where we were able to literally ski down the loose volcanic scree trail.  The day was a total of 11-hours of trekking.

Day 10, we set off early to trek to Marangu Gate.  It was a mixture of happiness and relief that got our exhausted bodies moving forward for our last walk.  After 5-hours of trekking, we reached the gates at Marangu, where our bus waited to take us to the hotel for a well-appreciated shower and celebratory dinner.

Day 11, we were on a bus for 10-hours, returning to Nairobi.  We spent the day recounting what we had seen and how we felt.  We looked at each other’s pictures and agreed that the entire trek was lined with panoramic views that we did our best to capture on memory cards.  As trying as the adventure was, we all felt a sense of connection to the mountain, to each other, and to the charity.  I remember the drive back being very peaceful.

It was a rewarding experience that will never be forgotten.  This epic journey reminded me that life is a marathon, not a sprint.  And, I could not have asked for a better group of people to share this journey with.  As a group, we raised almost $150K and still counting!  This certainly could not have been done without the thoughtfulness and generosity of so many friends and family members.

I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to climb the world’s largest free standing mountain with such amazing people in support of an incredible charity.  It still feels surreal.

Shigei Gebremedhin, 30 October 2011

Go Eritrea

Shigei Gebremedhin is an American-born power woman of Eritrean descent attracted to adrenaline-pumping and physically challenging sports.

Whether it’s running the marathon, jumping out of an aircraft to skydive or bungee-jumping off high bridges and cruising down ski slopes, Shigei faces challenges head on.

If she is not out to get her adrenaline up, she works as a business consultant in New York and holds an MBA and BA from Michigan State University. She is a beautiful, intelligent and brave woman inspired by the drive to combine extreme sports with a good cause.

Her latest venture is to climb the Kilimanjaro to help raise funds for Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), which is an international development organization that is committed to help the poorest regions of the world to address issues such as HIV, disability, poverty, education, health and well-being. She is in the final stages of her quest to reach the peak of the African mountain. Her journey will start on October 2nd and ends Ocotber 12th.

Mt. Kilimanjaro is in Tanzania, Africa. The mountain has three volcaninc cones, Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira and is a dormant volcano. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the temperature at the peak is about -10 C.

”The first one is to remember to continue to do something that matters. Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro is a challenge that I am doing for charity. This fundraising experience will allow me to think of someone outside of myself and my needs,” she says.

Just recently she has started her own blog “Forward Motion” on her upcoming adventure, so we can follow her journey to conquer the 5895-metre-high mountain. Shigei believes that sharing her experience with us should remind us that we are all one and that we must help one another, and to continue strengthening our own spine.

If you want to support the good cause of Shigei Gebremedhin please visit her fundraising page “Shigei Gebremedhin“.

Go Eritrea

Detectives have begun to quiz a suspect following the death of Genet Kidane on Coventry ring road according to the Coventry Telegraph.

The 41-year-old Eritrean national was found dead after falling from a footbridge onto the ring road, near the Canal Basin on January 12. Genet – who leaves behind a 21-year-old daughter – was walking to her job as a cleaner at Primark in Broadgate, at the time of her death.

A post mortem revealed she died as a result of multiple injuries from falling from the bridge onto the carriageway below. A man was also found lying injured on the ground and was taken to hospital. He had received injuries to his back and feet and has since undergone surgery.

He was held on suspicion of murder under police guard in hospital. He is now deemed fit enough to be questioned at a city police station.

Genet moved to Coventry from Eritrea, in north-east Africa, six years ago and was granted asylum in this country in 2005. She lived in Samuel Vale House, St Nicholas Street, Radford.

The BBC’s Ian Brimacombe reports on a woman who fought in the Eritrean struggle for independence from Ethiopia. She was just 13 when she became a soldier. She spent the next 16 years fighting in a brutal guerrilla war.

Meriem Omer began her life as a girl soldier in 1976.

“I joined the cause voluntarily. I felt like I had to do something,” she told the BBC’s World Update programme. “It was a hot political situation. I saw villages burning. I was surrounded by war. The regime was imprisoning many people. One of them was my father.”

She was in sixth grade when she saw him dragged from the family home and thrown into the back of a van. He was taken to a high-security prison where he was tortured, and she never saw him again. ”I felt so sad that my dad was in prison,” she says, “he was my role model and I couldn’t bear it.”

“The feeling that creates in a human being – whether man or woman – it’s a feeling of revenge.”

Equality

Meriem Omer’s story is remarkable, but not unique.

It is thought that about a quarter of the soldiers in the Eritrean rebel “Popular Front for the Liberation of Eritrea” or EPLF were women, and in many instances, girls. They left the traditional world they knew to join Marxist-inspired guerrillas who espoused equality between the sexes.

Meriem Omer spent nine months doing her military training. ”That mentally and physically prepared me to carry a gun,” she says. Today she still recalls vividly what it was like to fight.

“In the battlefield you could be as aggressive as a man and as merciless as a man,” she says. ”Physically we were not the same as the men, but we would double the men’s efforts to be seen to equally participate in the battle.”

Tank commanders

She also remembers how gender was never much of an issue. ”We were assigned equally, like men, to the front-lines,” she says. “Women were very important to the revolution.”

She says the aim of the organisation was to bring about social change and, therefore, it wouldn’t have been able to do without women – from feeding the army, to providing information and support.

“That’s why they included the rights of women in the military code. The role of women actually changed the attitude of men,” she says.

Thousands of young women participated in the struggle. Some of them even became commanders of tank units. Ms Omer says she felt a sense on empowerment but, as a woman at war, she says she knew she also faced additional risks.

“We were more vulnerable than men,” she says. “Boys would be tortured, but women would always be raped and tortured and ultimately killed. I never liked that idea, so I would have killed myself before I would be captured.”

Combat roles

The revolution was a long drawn-out affair. Eritrea only emerged from its war of independence in 1993. After feeling the euphoria of seeing the fight for freedom won, Ms Omer fell out with the new Eritrean authorities and was eventually exiled.

She moved to the UK where, until last year, she was involved with an Eritrean organisation that supports a network of Eritrean diaspora communities across the world.

Now she helps run a family business in Sweden. She remains a staunch opponent of the Eritrean government. Meanwhile, the tradition of women in the Eritrean military continues to this day. The country remains one of the few places in the world where women are drafted to fight alongside men in combat roles.

But Meriem Omer says the picture is depressing for women conscripts.

“They are kept against their will,” she says. ”There is no battle to fight. It’s just military service servicing the officers’ needs. They are really not happy.”

It may be because of the Swedish way of life, but she says she has also seen the bigger picture. ”The experience of that conflict made me learn and grow up and believe in negotiation and peace,” she says. “It’s not always a solution to carry a gun and fight.”

Family, friends and neighbors of Saron Teclu Belay, a 37-year-old mother of two who is mentally-disabled, have issued a plea for help and offered a reward to help find the woman who has been missing for more than two weeks. Belay was last seen January 8 at 10:00 a.m. after being released from a Long Beach hospital and inadvertently dropped off by a taxi at the wrong location in Norwalk, CA.

Ms. Belay and her two children–Angela, 15, and Johanna, 11—live in Lawndale with her parents, Teclu Hailu, 81, and Nigisty Ghebre, 67.

Earlier this month, family and friends held a press conference to detail the efforts being made to date to find her, and described her inability to care for herself. There is a $10,000 reward for information which leads to her discovery.

Ms. Ghebre reported that her daughter – who was born in Eritrea and immigrated to the United States in 1990 – has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and had just completed a two-week stay for psychiatric treatment at Pacific Hospital of Long Beach when she disappeared.

She stressed that Ms. Belay does not know their address and telephone number, is unfamiliar with Norwalk, and is very shy and would not approach people for help.

According to Christopher P. Yuhl, an advisor to the family, when Ms. Belay’s stay at the hospital was completed, Pacific Hospital arranged for her transfer to a supervised care-and-board facility in Norwalk. It contacted Independent Taxi Company to transport her and paid the fare.

The taxi driver took her to an address on 166th Street in Norwalk, a quarter mile from the supervised facility, and left her off in front of a house. Mr. Yuhl added that the only reported sighting of her was at a dairy market.

When notified she was missing, the family notified the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and produced fliers and distributed hundreds of them throughout the area.

Mr. Yuhl said anyone having information on Ms. Belay should report it to Detective Diane Harris of the Sheriff’s Department at 323-890-5510 or to him at 310-827-2800. Source: (Everythinglongbeach)

Police in Zurich (Switzerland) has identified a body found dead in the Lake Zurich as an 39 year old Eritrean woman. According to the medical investigation the woman died after drowning in the lake. So far the police has no indication of third party involvement, but is asking the population to aid in the investigation. Read more: (Article in German).

Grandma Tsege is a loving mother, wife and sister living in the United States. Her story is reminding me of our parents and what they had to go through to get us where we are today. She left her heart in Eritrea, as many of our parents did. Never shall we forget what losses they had to endure and what they sacrificed with dignity and pride. Read more: Brenda’s Blog.