Emily Kelting
For my 59th birthday, my sister gave me a copy of Mark Adams’ best-selling book, “Turn Right at Machu Picchu,” about his adventures re-tracing the steps of Hiram Bingham, who discovered (with the help of two local farmers) the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu in 1911. I vowed that for my 60th birthday, I would celebrate by hiking the Inca Trail with my 20-something children and their boyfriend/girlfriend.
I wasn’t much of a hiker, truth be told, but then again, neither was Mark Adams before he trained for his trek. I have — over the course of my lifetime —competed in nine sports, so I wasn’t in bad shape, and I knew how to train and set goals.
Emily Kelting of New Canaan and her son Ted at the start of the Inca Trail.
Last July, I successfully climbed up and over the highest point — almost 14,000 feet — on the Inca Trail (with the unfortunate name of “Deadwoman’s Pass”) and then down the 3,500 steep and narrow stone steps built by the Incas in the 1400’s, which our guide called “the Gringo Killers.” I could barely walk on the fourth day as we entered the Sun Gate at dawn, with the magical ruins of Machu Picchu spread out below. It was a moment I’ll never forget.
Spiritual journey
Emily Kelting of New Canaan in front of the Inca Tunnel.
A highlight of that hike was simply walking through the Andes, among drop-dead gorgeous scenery and passing architectural ruins that were so well-built (with none of our modern tools) that they have withstood the effects of centuries of earthquakes that have leveled Lima and Cuzco.
The truly spiritual part of the journey was understanding the history of the Inca people through the words of our guide, Percy, a Quechuan, or descendant of the Incas. Standing on top of a steep crag at the second pass, the wind at his back, Percy led us in a sacred rite to Pachamama, or Mother Earth. We were instructed to arrange a circle of coca leaves and rocks we had gathered from the Pacamayo River and reflect on our God, our ancestors, our families, friends, and communities. He blessed us with holy water, which we spread over ourselves, and he played the pipes as we closed our eyes in meditative prayer.
I was going to hang up my hiking boots after my Peru trek, but my friend Sally Halstead, a former New Canaan resident, convinced me to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro with her husband, daughter and a group of their friends from Sun Valley, Idaho. I have trained by hiking in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Colorado, often with other “Appies”— or members of the Appalachian Mountain Club. And this time, I have hit the Stairmaster at the gym hard.
Our climb up Kilimanjaro will begin on Tuesday, Feb. 11. I hope to reach the summit of Uhuru Peak at 19,341 feet on Sunday, Feb. 16. The air will be very thin and very cold. We won’t stay long on the summit — just long enough to snap a photo or two. As I record the moment of reaching that height, I’ll also be looking far into the distance, trying to spot Lake Victoria, and thinking about the doctors and patients at the Bugando Medical Centre in Mwanza.
For you see, I’m not only climbing for myself; I’m hoping to raise money that will help improve the health care system in Tanzania through the Touch Foundation.
Why Touch Foundation?
In 2003, I was standing in my friends Rita and David Kirby’s living room in New Canaan, listening to Fr. Peter Le Jacq describe the health care crisis in Tanzania. As both a medical doctor and Maryknoll priest who had spent more than 20 years as a missionary in Tanzania, Fr. Peter was in a unique position to understand the dire situation, where in some parts of the country there was only one doctor for one million people; in other areas the ratio “improved” to one in 25,000.
His dream was to build a medical school in Tanzania, to train doctors and other health care professionals to treat their own.
In 2004, Touch Foundation was founded by Lowell Bryan, a former resident of New Canaan and senior director at McKinsey and Company. A medical school was built at the Bugando Medical Centre on the shores of Lake Victoria in Mwanza, which is the referring hospital for 16 million Tanzanians. The medical school’s first class had only 10 M.D. students and has now grown to more than 600 students enrolled. Today, 278 physicians have graduated (10% of the country’s total) with an additional 1,800 allied health care professionals, such as assistant medical officers, radiologists and lab technicians. Each of the physicians — in the future course of their medical careers — will literally touch the lives of 300,000 Tanzanians needing medical care.
In the past two years, Touch has expanded their focus to regional and district hospitals, moving toward the village level. In doing so, it is undertaking critical upgrades of the clinical and academic equipment, and the infrastructure (patient wards, operating theaters, housing for students and visiting educators). In addition to the infrastructure upgrades, the foundation will continue to post and rotate teams of students in Bugando to provide important clinical training, strengthen local health worker skills, and provide quality care for the local population.
The U.S. government, through USAID, has been a key supporter and partner of Touch. USAID leverages contributions as they match each donation, dollar for dollar. Large corporate and individual donors have also played a major role in the success of Touch. It is hoped that one day the foundation will not only stem the health care crisis in Tanzania, but provide a model for medical systems in other countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
To contribute to my “Climb for Touch Foundation” go to: crowdrise.com/climbfortouchfoundation/fundraiser/emilykelting
__
Emily Kelting is a longtime resident of New Canaan. She is the owner of GreatScapes Landscape Services, an instructor of landscape design and photography at the New York Botanical Garden, a contributor to the Huffington Post and Women’s Voices for Change, and the author of “Little Winners: Inside the World of the Child Sports Star,” published by Little, Brown and Company.
Emily Kelting of New Canaan jumps for joy at the highest point on the Inca Trail — called ‘Deadwoman’s Pass’ — in Peru, July 2013. She plans to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro this month.