Sabbath Afternoon Climbing

Hey everyone!

This is Travis and it is good to finally get a chance to post a blog for you all!  I think this post will be more exciting for all of you fellow climbers back home.  Before we left for Uganda I had heard from our friend Johnny that there were some cliffs along the lake near the orphanage, so Megan and I decided to throw in any of our climbing gear that would fit.  We brought 2 harnesses, our climbing shoes and chalk bags, a lot of webbing, and a rope.  I had been down to the lake several times since we have been here trying to scout out a good part of the wall that was climbable.  The only problem was that there wasn’t anything to make an anchor off of at the top of the cliffs.  I finally found a good sized tree that was about 50 feet from the edge of the cliff.  This tree just happened to be in the middle of one of the witch’s campouts.  No one was there but there were fire rings, spears, arrows, pots, and all sorts of little trinkets.  

 

 

 Last Sabbath afternoon we all went down to set up a climb at the place I had found.  Our friends Henry, Zuma, Viola, and a couple other guys from the orphanage came with us, eager to see how this ‘rock climbing’ worked.  Henry was especially excited to give it a try after I had shown him a lot of pictures of my friends and I climbing back home.  He was also really interested in climbing because he has been reading one of my books that I brought about mountaineering in the Himalayas.

We got down to the lake and linked all of our webbing together and anchored it off of the witch’s tree.  We were still about 20 feet short from the edge of the cliff but it was mostly grass and we put towels and a sheet of plastic over the lip of the rock to protect the rope.  I rappelled down first to make sure it was alright and Megan belayed me as I climbed back up.

 We showed Henry how to put the harness on and tie a figure-8 and how to slowly lean back over the edge of the cliff.  Imagine never having climbed before or done anything like that and then trusting your life to some foreign gear as you backed off a cliff!  He was a little nervous but he finally started down yelling, “I am strong, I’m strong!”  Once he reached the bottom, he put my climbing shoes on and started the climb back up.  He did surprisingly well for never having climbed before and having hand and footholds breaking off left and right.  By the time he reached the top, a small crowd had gathered to see the first Ugandan to probably ever climb that rock.  He climbed over the edge to cheers and a high five, all the while having a big smile on his face and his hands in the air.  Our friend Zuma finally decided that he would try it and conquer his fear of heights, but only after Krystin called him a chicken in his own language.  He kept saying, “I must try, I won’t be a chicken!”  Zuma also did very well and made it to the top of his first climb ever.  

 

 For the next couple hours, we let 4 other kids try to rock climb for the first time.  One of them was a girl named Aisha. She was there with one of her friends but they weren’t with us from the orphanage, they had just stumbled across us as we were setting up the climb.  We were kind of surprised when she shyly asked if she could try it along with the other boys.  Megan gave her a pair of pants to climb in and she walked around to the bottom along with the others.  Of everyone that climbed, I think she was the most enthused about it.  She decided she wanted to do it barefoot and leaped up onto the rock and started climbing quickly.  She reached the top quickly to the cheers of everyone watching.

I think that was my favorite part of the whole day while we were climbing; seeing the excitement of each one as they reached the top and were congratulated by everyone.  I have always enjoyed taking people climbing for the first time back at home and seeing them get excited about it, but it doesn’t top the feeling of taking kids in Uganda climbing for the first time!

 

It was such a fun day for all of us and we closed the Sabbath by having everyone back to our house where we sat around outside and sang worship songs together as Megan played her guitar.  Well, it was basically special music from Krystin, Megan and I, since we were the only ones that knew the songs.  Part of us hopes that we made a small impact on any of the kid’s lives, especially the two girls that stumbled across us down at the cliffs.  Who knows, they may have been on their way to take part in some of the witchcraft that goes on down at the lake, but instead, were introduced to a new and exciting activity and new friends in Jesus!

To all you back home, keep climbin!...and go to The Loft!

Travis