Brave Hearts

Author(s): Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: Eye Care Foundation

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The Brave Hearts
a piece of advice, “You can walk with the help of a walking stick. You can even run if someone shows you the way. Only recently four blind young men from England crossed the English Channel from France to England in just 1422 hours. Why don't you do something similar to that ? Just give up the idea of climbing the mountain."
Many more offered unsolicited advice to them. A few sounded warnings of various types of the risks involved in the project. But the seven Africans were determined to go ahead with their dream and not to retract from their resolve inspite of the prospect of possible calamities. They resolved to do something, to achieve something that no blind person had ever done before. Additionally, the seven men were firm in their heart of hearts that they should do something unique which would normally be considered reserved for normally sighted.
Having thus taken a firm decision, all of them started preparations for the proposed climb. They started undergoing physical hardships to get tough, no matter what others said. A few even cut jokes at them, some derided them, and others called them mad caps that were building castles in the air. Yet the seven did not budge an inch from their determination. Instead they started undergoing training meant for the climbers and mountaineers, the only resolve in the minds of each one of them being to conquer Kilimanjaro.
The seven blind men belonged to different countries and nationalities. For instance, John Opiyo, Tofiri Kabuka and Laurence Serwambala came from Uganda, Moses Mutie and Lurmasen Andeketi came from Kenya while Noel Palour and Mathias Gailanga had their origin in the country called Tanzaniya. While climbing the mountain mutual understanding and coordination were most imperative.
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