LEADERSHIP
TROY PORRAS | WYATTS TOWING
Lessons from Mount Kilimanjaro
L
ast summer I went to Africa with my
seventeen-year-old son. We did some
humanitarian work for a couple
weeks in Ghana and then flew to Tanzania
and hiked Mount Kilimanjaro. Mount
Kilimanjaro is one of the Seven Summits.
The Seven Summits are the highest
mountains of each of the seven continents.
Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest peak in
Africa at 19,341 feet. We were hiking for
six days and had a lot of time to think of
lessons that could be learned, and here are
a few:
LESSON 1: Pole Pole. Pole Pole is a
phrase in Swahili that means “slowly” or
“calm.” The guides probably said that 100
times a day. They reminded us that the
mountain wasn’t going anywhere and that
we didn’t need to hurry. It was always going
to be there, and we should go slow and
steady. I think there is a life lesson there
for us. Often, we are in a hurry. We are
busy answering phone calls and returning
e-mails and it seems that there is never an
end of things we can do, but I think if we
live life a little more “Pole Pole,” it could be
a lot more fulfilling.
LESSON 2 - Be ready for difficult
times. It’s almost certain that in life we are
going to have hard times. We were going
along and the first five days it seemed easy.
We hiked an average of only five miles a day,
although we did gain12,000 feet of elevation
over those days. Austin and I hike quite a
bit here in Colorado including many 14er’s.
Over the first few days, we thought Mt.
Kilimanjaro was just like an easy 14er. As we
got closer to the summit it got significantly
more difficult. The last day we got to our
camp at about noon and our guides told us
we we’re going to leave at 11:30 at night for
the summit push. They instructed us to eat
dinner around 5-6pm and then get some
rest. We tried to follow their instructions,
but of course we were too anxious didn’t get
much sleep. At 11:30PM we woke up ready
for the summit. We were at 15,000 feet and
www.aamdhq.org
it was -10 degrees outside. We put on
these big parkas and started going. The
hike to the summit is only 3 miles to the
summit, but its 4,000 feet of elevation
gain so it is incredibly steep. Envision a
black diamond ski run. In fact, it was just
like that, there was snow on the ground,
and we were hiking in these tracks that
had been left in the snow. As we were
hiking along, suddenly I started feeling
a pain unlike anything I had ever had
in my life. Between my shoulder blades,
I had this sharp pain. I don’t know if it
was the altitude or lack of oxygen, but it
felt like someone was stabbing me over
and over again in my back. I have never
felt pain like that in my life. It reminded
me of what’s going to happen to all of
us. At some point in our lives, we are
going to have difficulties. And often
those difficulties come when you’re least
expecting them.
So, the lesson we can learn there is that
we should appreciate the good times when
we have them. If you’re in a good place
now, if you’re having a good week, if you’re
having a good day, having a good month,
or a good year, enjoy it while you can!
Because it is certain that at some point your
life, you’re going to have some struggles.
Whether its physical pain like I experienced
that night, emotional or spiritual. We are
all going to have hard times. The other
thing I learned is that even as I was hiking
that night, there was a spectacular sky. And
even with the depth of the difficulties, it’s
important to remember that there is beauty
all around us and we should enjoy that as
best we can. tell I was suffering. He offered to carry my
pack and I declined. But sometime between
3-4:00AM in the morning I agreed to let
him carry it, and that was difficult for me.
The minute I gave him my pack though, I
felt rejuvenated. I felt a new sense of energy
that I didn’t have before and I learned to
appreciate that. Another person helped
me that day as well, my son Austin. We
were hiking single file and it’s very steep,
so I was using my hands and my legs and
occasionally would step up and then fall
back. But Austin was right behind me and
he would physically grab and catch me
as I was falling to push me forward. That
was extremely moving for me and it was
amazing to have him there to help me. All
of us have people in our lives, friends and
family that are around us that want to help
in difficult times. And we need to learn to
accept their help.
LESSON 3 - Accept Help From Others
The last lesson I learned was that we need
to learn how to accept help from others.
That is difficult for me and is probably
difficult for most people. We had been
hiking with our guide for six days and by
that point we were practically like family.
As we were hiking that final night, he could There was a lot of learning in the month
we spent in Africa. Much could be written
about our profound experiences building a
school and getting to know the children we
were serving in Ghana. There are lessons to
learn from the animals we saw on safari. But
these lessons are just a couple of the things
we learned from climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.
JULY 2019
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