|
At an early hour of the night, Eitan lay still on the cold ground, his heart racing. “This is it,” he thought to himself, “I’m going to die here.” Eitan was petrified that his worst fear had come true - after the first day of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, his heart might be giving out. At the age of 50, with little climbing experience, this was not an unrealistic thought. As he contemplated whether to wake up his tent-mate and alert him to a situation he could do little about, or simply have the Connecticut attorney find his dead body in the morning, Eitan heard a woman’s scream from the neighboring tent. Ignoring his own state of terror, Eitan ran to her aid. As he comforted the shaken woman, it became apparent to him that she was experiencing the same anxiety and fear as he had been. “I realized that she was in an advanced panic attack and I was about to experience what she was going through,” he said, “she was sent to tell me, ‘hey, be cool.’” It was at this moment, while consoling his fellow climber, that Eitan overcame his fears. He had documented 38 fears in a written list prior to the climb and this event led him to realize, once and for all, that all fears were just illusions. He continued the climb, confident he would make it to the top, and he did - first to Stella Point and then to the highest summit, Uhuru Peak, elevation of 19,566. He and 23 others made the six day journey up Kilimanjaro as a fundraising effort for the Make a Wish Israel Foundation. Eitan freely admits he wanted nothing to do with the climb at first. According to him, it was “peer pressure” from his friend, founder of Make a Wish Israel Avi Bar Aharaon, that forced him onto the Tanzanian mountain. Despite his initial reluctance, however, Eitan feels the climb was well worth it. But, while the climb itself was an incredible experience, filled with beautiful scenery and lessons learned, it was where he went afterward that brought him true fulfillment. After returning from the below-zero temperatures of Kilimanjaro to the Keys Hotel in Moshi, Tanzania, Eitan and three other climbers wished to continue their journey further. According to Eitan, they wanted to see the real life of people in Tanzania, “we didn’t want to just walk around and do the little shopping,” he said, “we wanted to feel the actual, Tanzanian life.” They began the search for a willing escort at 8a.m. on the last morning of their stay in Tanzania, knowing full-well their plane was departing at midnight that evening, giving them only a short window of time to find what they were looking for. The men tried with all their might to find a cab or tour guide that would bring them to a non-tourist destination. Hours passed and they were unable to find anyone who had the free time or know-how to escort them to a Tanzanian village. As the men stood disappointed and disheartened in the hotel courtyard, discussing whether to give up their search, Eitan felt a tap on his shoulder. “I overheard that you’re looking for somebody to drive you around,” the man said, “I am a doctor around here. I would love to take you around and you don’t have to pay me. I want to show you a few things.” The man, Dr. Fidelis, happened to be visiting his wife who worked as Sales Director for the hotel. Thrilled by this unexpected offer, the men happily piled into Dr. Fidelis’s small Toyota and set off for the village of Tella. “I’m going to take you the village where I was born at the foot of the mountain,” the doctor told them. Before taking the four men to Tella, Dr. Fidelis drove to a market just outside the small town. He told Eitan and the others that this market is a major lifeline for the village of Tella. When it rains, the road to the market is washed out, leaving many women - who regularly make the four mile walk with baskets of fruit on their head to exchange within the market - without food for their families until the rain clears and the road reopens. Seeing the sights of the market and hearing the stories, Eitan and his friends felt they had achieved their goal - they were entering a new world, the life of Tanzania. After snapping some pictures of townspeople at the market, the group jumped back in the car and continued their journey. As Dr. Fidelis drove them towards the center of Tella, Eitan recalls children from the village running after their car. “I don’t think the kids had ever seen a white man before because they were running behind the car screaming, ‘Wazungu! Wazungu!’ Swahili translation to white man,” he said. According to him, the roads were barely roads at all, the children dodged several potholes as they ran after the car, smiling and waving at them. The children followed the car until it reached their next destination, The Tella Primary School, where Dr. Fidelis had been a student as a child. The men were given a tour of the school, during which they learned the school was experiencing a shortage of sugar. The head priest told them that an increase in sugar could help feed the students and possibly allow more children to attend. After discussing it for a little while, the four men decided to donate $150 to the cause. While the money did not seem like much to them, it was received as a large gesture by the children and faculty of the school. Shortly after the priest was informed of their intentions, the 300 students in attendance at the school, grades kindergarten through eighth, were lined up in little rows outside. Then, with smiling faces, they began to sing the Tanzanian National Anthem. “It was a very emotional moment for me to see those kids singing. I was missing my own kids,” Eitan said, “(they sang) while the three of us fathers were crying.” At this point in the trip, it had been almost 14 days since Eitan had seen his own children. He is a father of three and a dedicated family man who says he misses his kids after just one night of being away. As he watched the young, Tanzanian students sing in appreciation, Eitan thought of his family, “I decided at that moment that I was going to try to help this school as much as I can, because they are trying to create a life for themselves.” The living conditions for the students, according to Eitan, were very different from those of many American children. Most homes were single-parent families because AIDS or other diseases had claimed the life of a child’s mother or father . There was no electricity and it appeared that whole families were sleeping on the floor. Eitan became fascinated with how little the children of Tella had, but how happy they were despite their lack of luxuries. “This part of the world (Tanzania) is full of human beings who are trying to make a life for themselves,” he said, “we don’t get to appreciate anything that we have, we take it all for granted - running water, a floor, ceramic tile, electricity, a computer - we take it for granted. Nothing we are is back to being basic humans.” When he returned to the United States, Eitan launched the Tella-Jerusalem Project. It is named for the tiny village that touched his heart and the city where he was born in Israel. He used the photographs he captured while climbing Kilimanjaro and traveling through Tanzania on cards that he sells to raise money for the effort. To date, he has sent the Tella Primary School thousands of dollars and hopes to send more. With this money, the school was able to replace it’s chalk-drawn map with real maps. They were able to fix the school’s roof and put doors on the restrooms. Now, the children have desks with chairs that were built using the donated money and bear the name “Tella-Jerusalem” on them. Dr. Fidelis and Eitan still write each other. To this day, Eitan is amazed by his chance meeting with the doctor, his thin thread moment. He feels fortunate to have had the opportunity to see Tella and continues his support of the Tella Primary School.
Comment on this story on our public message board To buy cards and contribute to the Project
|
