‘Climbing Kilimanjaro easier than combating social exclusion’

  • | Tuesday | 25th September, 2018

As Mr. Ganatra puts it, “The exclusion and other issues are the mountains we have to climb every day. But none of this could deter the team, which included three blind climbers. Mr. Ganatra also holds the record for being India’s first blind solo paragliding pilot. People don’t interact with us enough to know that we are not fragile, but that we just have different competencies,” said Mr. Ganatra, a clinical psychologist who is also an inclusion activist. | Photo Credit: Prashant NakweClimbing Mount Kilimanjaro is fraught with challenges, and yet, is exciting, as participants in India’s first inclusive summit climb earlier this month found.

Gritty climbers: (From left) Vaishak J.P, Divanshu Ganatra, Anusha Subramanium and Prasad Gurav, blind and sighted climbers, share a light moment in Mumbai on Monday during an interaction with the media about their experience on India’s first inclusive expedition to Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain. | Photo Credit: Prashant Nakwe more-in Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is fraught with challenges, and yet, is exciting, as participants in India’s first inclusive summit climb earlier this month found. If their drinking water froze due to extreme temperatures as they neared the summit, they also encountered extreme vertical rock faces with drops of thousands of meters. But none of this could deter the team, which included three blind climbers. “You don’t fear the drop when you can’t see it. I feel safer in the mountains than in the city,” said Prasad Gurav, an information technology professional from Pune. Highest peak At 5,895 meters, Kilimanjaro is the world’s highest free-standing mountain. The summit was organised by former journalist Anusha Subramanian, co-founder of a social initiative called Summiting4Hope, and Divyanshu Ganatra, founder of Adventures Beyond Barriers Foundation (ABBF), and was held from September 8 to September 14 this year. The climbers were recounting their climb at an interaction with the press on Monday. Combating fatigue and acute mountain sickness, which is one of the main causes of fatalities during such summits, the 13 participants, including the visually handicapped climbers, Mr. Ganatra and Mr. Gurav from India, and Uri Basha from Israel, reached the Uhuru Peak on September 13 and climbed down again the the next day. The group also included Baepi Donio, a 14-year-old climber from Israel, who was the youngest member of the group, along with six local residents and three mountain guides. Comparing challenges These challenges, perhaps, paled in comparison to the exclusion that people with disability face in day-to-day life. “With disability in our country comes the invisibility. Those with disabilities are prone to exclusion and pity. People don’t interact with us enough to know that we are not fragile, but that we just have different competencies,” said Mr. Ganatra, a clinical psychologist who is also an inclusion activist. Mr. Ganatra also holds the record for being India’s first blind solo paragliding pilot. The organisers and climbers also recalled how raising funds for the initiative was an uphill task. Ms. Subramanian, a trained mountaineer, said the summit to Kilimajaro was meant to be a message that people who are blind are also part of society. “If the mountains don’t discriminate between anyone, why do we?” Ms. Subramanian asked. As Mr. Ganatra puts it, “The exclusion and other issues are the mountains we have to climb every day. Kilimanjaro was the fun part.”

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