TWO women took on Mount Kilimanjaro to raise awareness and funds for the Talk Sign Campaign.
Norma Millar, a Talk Sign Ambassador, and her best friend, Samantha Antoncich, climbed the mountain from 6 to 14 February. All funds raised went towards the campaign, which is an initiative of the KZN Blind and Deaf Society.
“Climbing Kili was the most amazing adventure. Sam and I had a wonderful time and enjoyed almost all of the experience. All the days leading up to summit were amazing, and even climbing up the enormous boulders and mountain walls was so much fun for us,” said Norma.
She said the pair could not honestly say that they enjoyed the summit night, as that was the toughest physical exertion they had ever experienced in their lives.
“We were woken for summit at 11pm and given a cup of tea and a rusk, to be ready by midnight. The long hard climb then began. We had so little air that even having a sip of water was exhausting. The altitude made us feel nauseous and headachey, and the temperature reached to below -20 degrees celsius, the coldest we had ever been in our lives. At that temperature our water also froze and we had icicles form on our faces. The first of the casulaties starting coming down the mountain only 20 minutes in, with some big strapping climbers being piggy-backed down by their guides. This was quite alarming for us, and we watched the stream come down wide-eyed and fearful. It was physically and mentally exhausting. It is hard to explain how deep we had to dig to get to the top,” she said.
Norma said the relief and exhilaration they felt when summiting at 8am was amazing; however, it was dampened some when they realised they still had to hike back down.
“Needless to say we collapsed in exhausted, happy heaps at the end of that day, hardly able to believe what we had achieved. It still feels to us like it was someone else’s adventure and we are struggling to fully grasp that we made it. Having said that, we are quite chuffed with ourselves and have a new respect for what we were able to achieve, particularly how we are able to give more and go still further after we thought we had given of our very last,” said Norma.
She said they were pleased to be able to enjoy this experience while making a difference by raising funds for Talk Sign.
Norma’s parents are both deaf and she is very much part of the deaf community, and, in turn, passionate about raising awareness for Sign Language.
The aim of the Talk Sign Campaign is to promote South African Sign Language and raise money through fundraising projects and the sale of Talk Sign stickers.
These funds will be used to educate and find employment for people who are deaf.
Talk Sign Day takes place on Friday, 13 March and everyone is encouraged to wear stickers on that day. Stickers are only R10 each. To place an order contact Ellisha at ellisha@talksign.co.za or 031 309 4991.
