Montgomery Catholic senior Grace Scott packed a rucksack and
traveled to Tanzania, East Africa, with youth mountaineering group, Moondance
Adventures. An experienced mountaineer herself, Grace has hiked throughout the Blue
Ridge Mountains, Yosemite National Park, and the Pyrenees Mountains between
France and Spain, and has summited Mount Shasta in California and Mont Blanc in
France. Her avid interest in the outdoors and love of serving others led her to
join the Moondance trek to Kilimanjaro.
After landing in Tanzania, the Moondance group spent a week
at the Mungere School near the city of
Arusha. They worked with the Red Sweater Project, a charity organization that aims make education accessible to the poorest children in the most rural areas of Africa. The school grows its own food to feed the students, and Grace’s group helped by tilling soil and clearing land for the vegetable gardens.
Arusha. They worked with the Red Sweater Project, a charity organization that aims make education accessible to the poorest children in the most rural areas of Africa. The school grows its own food to feed the students, and Grace’s group helped by tilling soil and clearing land for the vegetable gardens.
“It was really rewarding getting to help these kids,” Grace
said about her time at the Mungere School. “I became very close to them, and
I’ve even become penpals with Nate, an 11-year old student.”
After their week at the school, the Moondance group started
their trek up Mt. Kilimanjaro. The hike took a little over a week as each step up
the mountain became more difficult with the increased altitude, decreased
oxygen, and plummeting temperatures.
“The thin air from high altitudes is very hard on your
body,” said Grace. “There was one point where, while just sitting down and
resting at base camp, I felt completely out of breath. Of course we had to also
pack extra layers of clothing for the dramatic changes in temperature, but I
don’t think any of us were prepared for how cold it truly was close to the
summit.”
While almost all of the hikers made it safely to the summit,
the dangers of their trip were made apparent when one of the students took ill
halfway through the climb and required emergency evacuation from the mountain. The
temperatures transition from hot and humid at the base to freezing at the
summit and the low oxygen in the higher altitudes makes recovering from illness
and injury difficult, even for people in the best of health.
One of the more remarkable aspects of this trip is that
electronic devices, like cell phones and tablets, are not permitted, so the
group members needed to make strong personal connections with one another. They
spent 24 hours a day together and relied on each other for company and
entertainment.
“I enjoy making real, human connections with other people,”
said Grace. “I think that nowadays we are too attached to electronic devices,
so even when you’re with friends, there is always a distraction.”
Although her travels have taken Grace to different parts of
the world, her next bucket list items are a little closer to home. “I’d like to
do Mount McKinley (Denali) next, then Mount Ranier, and all of the mountain
ranges in the United States,” she said. “After that, I want to hike through
Patagonia in South America.”
Grace aspires to study nutrition science at college and is
looking at the University of Memphis or
Sewanee: The University of the South. She intends to continue mountaineering and hopes to serve as a leader for other young people seeking outdoor adventures.
Sewanee: The University of the South. She intends to continue mountaineering and hopes to serve as a leader for other young people seeking outdoor adventures.
“I would love to lead a group of kids on trips like these,”
she said. “I encourage everyone to get outside.”
As for other students wanting to get into the outdoors, she
had some advice to pass along. “Just get outside, start with some short hikes
and work up from there. Camping can be challenging at first because you have to
do everything yourself, but it’s worth it, and it’s so much fun. Getting
involved with a program like Moondance is also a great way to get started if
you don’t know where to start.”