As a recent charitable event in Cairo showed, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is just one way of supporting children with special needs, says Dena Rashed Standing on stage last Sunday at Zamalek's Al-Sawy Culture Wheel, Omar Samra told the crowd what it means to stand on top of a mountain for a cause. The Right to Climb initiative has been in operation for several months now, with Samra, founder and head of the company Wild Guanabana that specialises in journeys to exotic places around the world, supporting its philanthropic aims. Now the company is promoting a trip to Tanzania in order to support the Right to Live Association (RTLA), a non-profit organisation established in 1981 that caters for children with special needs. The association aims to help integrate such children into society, allowing them to become more active members of it. In order to help provide a better future for the children and to raise awareness of their needs, 25 young men and women, the oldest 40 and the youngest 24, will go on their journey in Eid right after the holy month of Ramadan. "Each one of them is supposed to raise LE20,000, and one of them has pledged to raise an equal amount in matching donations," Samra told the Weekly. One of the team is famous voice of Nile FM Safi, who presented his thoughts about the climb to the crowd at the Culture Wheel and introduced the other climbers "Climbing a mountain has always been on my bucket list. It's a great idea to mix fun with a cause," Safi said, adding that he has already collected the LE20,000 needed. Does being famous help? Safi says that he hasn't pushed anybody into donating. Instead, he set up a chain, asking 100 acquaintances to donate LE200 each. More than the money collected, Safi says that what is so great about the initiative is the awareness that it raises, "what you might call the ripple effect." "Everybody that I talked to about donating has become aware of the need to support children with special needs, and they will also be spreading the message." There will be live broadcasting of the trip on Nile FM throughout, with daily feedback from Safi. Such positive feelings were reflected in the Sawy event to promote the climb and to encourage more donations. It was characterised by a sense of fun and optimism, far from the feelings of sometimes heavy responsibility that can characterise charitable causes. Mount Kilimanjaro, the object of the climb, is the highest mountain in Africa at 5,893 metre, and it has long attracted climbers, not all of them on charitable missions. Samra, who has climbed the mountain three times, believes that the present climb is not only about doing something for children with special needs, but is also about taking time out from the daily routine. "People going on the climb don't necessarily have to have any previous experience of mountain climbing. Instead, they need determination and to be active individuals," he said. The aim of the climb is not only about getting to the mountain top. "It is about taking part and giving one's best." Working in the field of banking and finance for almost a decade, Samra decided in May 2009 to start his company, aiming to encourage people to experience nature. As he had not necessarily found his career itself always fulfilling, after travelling for a year in Latin America and Asia, Samra found his calling in setting up the company with partner Alaa Abdel-Ghaffar. The aim was to create a travel company that was environmentally conscious and concerned with issues of corporate social responsibility. However, there is another, more personal reason behind Samra's decision to work with RTLA and the cause of people with special needs. "I know more than others about the cause," Samra says, adding that his two sisters have special needs, and that his mother has been dedicated to volunteering in the field since the 1970s. Samra talks about what greater social awareness can bring to such a cause and how important it is to encourage better understanding of such children's needs, while at the same time helping to find them employment opportunities. When the present initiative started, it was restricted to Samra's immediate family and social circle. However, he wanted to aim higher, and so Samra invited the participation of people in the public eye and celebrities. The Right to Climb has organised dedicated phone lines and text-messaging services to encourage donations. While it had a special phone line before the present initiative, it had only managed to collect some LE4,000 annually, not enough to support a wider campaign such as the Right to Climb. Now, all this has changed. According to Samra, the RTLA is a well-established organisation doing work that people often do not fully appreciate. In addition to its other activities, it also aims to help prevent discrimination against children with special needs, providing awareness-raising workshops and other activities. While the present campaign has so far been positive, Samra says that some people have thought that the donations were meant to go towards covering the expenses of the mountain-climbing trip. This is not the case, he adds, with donations going directly to the association. Before the Sawy event finished, the crowd were surprised by a performance by the group The Zabaleen, or garbage collectors, a group of American University in Cairo students who perform using musical instruments accompanied by trash cans and metal rods. Their performance rocked the room, helping to draw attention to a campaign for greater cleanliness in Cairo as well as supporting the Mount Kilimanjaro climb. Sherif Iskandar, majoring in physics and minoring in music at AUC, is one of the group's drummers. While the group had started by performing at the AUC alone, they soon started to attract wider crowds, eventually giving public performances, he says. Each member of the group is committed to delivering a message to the public, but their teaming up at such events has attracted more people towards donating. To make a donation to the RTLA and support its work with children with special needs, contact Abeer Khamis on +2 02 2266 1271 or +2 010 165 0957. Bank transfers can be made to the RTLA's HSBC EGP account 001290980 or in US$ to account 001290980110 (swift code EBBKEGCS) Nadi El-Shams Branch, Cairo, Egypt. For donations by phone, call 2395 (LE1.5/ minute) or land lines 09000 929 or 0900 0900 (1.99/minute).
