By Jessica Edwards
On Wednesday, 11 Haines Venturer Scouts and nine parent chaperones were
set to board a jet in Juneau bound for Seattle, Newark, N.J., London, Nairobi, and
ultimately Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.
At the end of the 24-hour plane ride, most will be the farthest afield
they’ve ever traveled. For some, it will be the trip of a lifetime.
Teslyn Visscher, 17, said she hadn’t thought the plans to go to
Africa were realistic last fall after the initial excitement of the idea had cooled.
"I thought, ‘It’s not really going to happen,’" she said.
"It’s really cool," she said about her departure
Wednesday. "I’ve been to Mexico, but this will be way more exciting."
On Friday, the group will begin its weeklong ascent of 19,000-foot
Mount Kilimanjaro with the assistance of Alaska Mountain Guides and local porters.
Afterward, scouts and chaperones will spend several days on safari in Tanzanian national
parks.
Visscher is one of five recent Haines High School graduates taking the
trip, including Christine Hansen, 18; Forest Podsiki, 18; Chandler Kemp, 18; and summer
resident Jackie Moody, 17, who attends school in Colorado.
Other scouts on the trip are Christalyn Lemieux, 17; Fran Daly, 16;
Hannah Hostetler, 15; Kate Lindsley, 16; Elizabeth Jurgeleit, 16; and Payson Schnabel, 17.
"This is a last big adventure with my friends before we
disperse," said Visscher, who will attend University of Alaska, Fairbanks this fall.
Schnabel, who hasn’t been farther away from home than Canada, said
he had an open mind about what it would be like in Tanzania. But he did think,
"It’s not like everything you’ve heard about Africa" on the news,
which often highlights war, refugees, and famine. "They say the town where we’re
going has a good economy," he said.
Hostetler, who has been to Mexico with her family, said she hopes to
learn about Tanzanian culture and is eager to summit Mount Kilimanjaro. "I look
forward to standing on top of that mountain and looking down at everything."
She said she is curious about how the 19,000-foot altitude would affect
her. It’s the biggest fear students expressed about the trip this week.
Visscher said some of the group planned to take the medication Diamox
to counteract the effects of altitude, including altitude sickness, which can render a
climber dizzy, short of breath and cause pulmonary and cerebral edema.
Most said they were looking most forward to the safari, and seeing
African animals such as elephants and lions in their native habitats. The group will camp
outdoors during the safari.
Trip organizer and Venturer Scouts leader Greg Podsiki said the
adventure would be an "amazing bonding experience for parents and kids."
Jansy Hansen, a chaperone on the trip, said she was thrilled to have a
chance to travel abroad with this group of young people, with whom she’s had
adventures over the years.
"I’m looking forward to seeing how they react to new
experiences. Culturally, Africa is so not western," she said, adding the culture in
the area they were visiting had been impacted by climbing and hiking tourism. Many people
would speak English, she said.
"My hope for them is that they see the United States and how we
live is such a small part of the world."
Hansen said adult chaperones had done more training in preparation for
climbing Kilimanjaro than the youth, as most of the young people had recently finished the
track season and were in good shape.
Besides the physical demands of the climb, the dream trip comes at a
steep price.
Fundraising for the trip, which will cost each participant around
$6,000 – not including the technical clothing and gear needed for hiking Kiliminjaro
– is ongoing, said Venturer Scouts leader Greg Podsiki.
Scouts and parents purchased plane tickets, paid for vaccinations
including for Yellow Fever, Hepatitis A and B, Meningitis and Tetanus, took pills for
Malaria and oral medication for typhoid. Other expenses include food, lodging, guiding
services and the price of the safari.
Additionally, hiking Kilimanjaro required each adventurer to pack a
sleeping bag rated to minus 20 degrees, an arctic parka, polypropylene or wool
underclothing, a Gore-Tex rain jacket, heavy wool socks, good boots, trekking poles and a
first aid kit.
To pay for the trip, scouts and parents worked hard to raise money, and
community members and organizations had donated generously, Podsiki said.
"We actually earned an awful lot." He said organizers had
decided to shorten the trip from three weeks to two to make it more affordable.
Podsiki said scouts had raised about $3,800 at car washes, by serving
food at local functions, and from the sale of holiday wreaths.
Another $11,000 stands to be made from the sale of four woodsheds, a
playhouse and a cabin scouts and parents volunteered time this winter to build, he said.
Scouts will be reimbursed for the trip commensurate with their work once all the buildings
are finished and sold, Podsiki said.
Community organizations and individuals donated about $9,000 plus air
miles to the trip, including eight one-way tickets from Juneau to Newark, N.J. Fundraising
money was only used for scout tickets, and chaperones were required to pay their own way.
All the work and preparation – even the high price – was
worth it to gain the young people an experience so far outside their comfort zone, Hansen
said.
"It’s neat seeing them do stuff, to see them risk a
little," she said. "They grow so much from it."
