Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Adventurous Brit Lizzie Banks has joined a school party on a mercy mission to Nepal and will renew ties with an old acquaintance before setting off on a mountain base camp trek.
The 50-year-old head of psychology at St Christopher’s School is leading a 10-strong party of Year 12 World Challenge students, assisted by her colleague Hamanou Oussada, 27, a teacher of modern foreign languages.
Last week, the team was busy carrying out general maintenance, structural work and painting and decorating Annapurna Children’s Home. “We’ve been trying to help make the orphanage a real self-sustaining home,” said Lizzie.
There are currently more than 30 children aged between three and 17 and seven adults living in the property.
“We were scheduled to go to Nepal three years ago when the landslides hit and so it has always been a priority to honour our commitment at some point,” added Lizzie.
In 2015 Nepal suffered an earthquake which killed nearly 9,000 people and injured around 22,000.
Aftershocks caused several major landslides too which claimed more lives, destroyed homes and buildings and covered roads in mud and rubble.
“Obviously the landslides were devastating so we will see what we can do to help them make the land more secure by planting trees, for example.”
The Bahrain team did not go empty-handed thanks to months of fundraising. Pupils organised parties with an entrance fee donation, offered paid rides on jet-skis and sold handmade pens to raise BD700.
Supporters in the community donated sports kits, clothes, books and toys which were placed in boxes and flown out courtesy of supporters, DHL Express.
Hamanou said he was ‘honoured’ to be able to embark on a once-in-a lifetime experience and was determined to help the Nepalese community which has suffered so much in recent times.
After their orphanage endeavours, Lizzie, Hamanou and the boys took on the eight-day physical and mental challenge of trekking to Annapurna Base Camp … but not before calling on Susan Gurung, who used to work in the school’s maintenance department and send most of her wages home to support her family and child back home in Nepal.
She had to return due to family circumstances so the team promised to make a detour to visit her in her village which is not far from the mountain trek.
“We are so excited about this as she was much loved by us all,” said Lizzie. “She has a five-year-old son named Deepson and had to return because there was no-one who could look after him anymore and she could not bring him to Bahrain.
“She used to make sure the female teachers had flowers on their desks every day, taught herself English to an impressive standard and always had questions about our children even though it must have been so painful when she had not seen her own son for two years.”
The base camp trek is one of the most popular in the region. The trail goes alongside terraced rice paddies, lush rhododendron forests and high altitude landscapes with the Annapurna Range in view most of the time.
The setting of Annapurna Base Camp at 4,130m is unique and incredibly spectacular, set amidst the majestic peaks of Annapurna I (8,091m), Annapurna South (7,219m), Machapuchhre (6,993m) and Hiunchuli (6,441m). It takes around seven to 12 days, depending on the length of walking days.
The students – Euan Currie, Harry Cocker, Jad Traboulssi, Oscar Lorenti, Yaseen Le Falher, Hadi Ahmed, Tom Emanuel, Marco Maggi, Mohamed Maroof, Shane McCarthy - aged between 16-17, although five of them will turn 18 during the expedition. They are planning to watch the sunrise as a collective ‘gift’ from the base camp.
When the group returns to Bahrain, Lizzie and her American husband, John Tinetti, will soon be off on another climbing adventure. They aim to reach the summit of Mount Elbrus, the highest mountain in Europe, and at 5,642m, the 10th most prominent peak in the world.
“I have been able to use the Annaouran Trek as good training for the Mount Elbrus challenge, she added.
As a short get together in Florida, the couple will be setting off on July 30 for five days of acclimatisation and a slow climb to base camp before heading up to the sky if the weather allows. Lizzie and John are hoping to reach a total of seven summits whilst living in this part of world.
Lizzie’s mountain climbs are particularly remarkable as she only has sight in one eye because she inhaled a parasite whilst on safari at the Kenyan Masai Mara game reserve in 1993.
The damage was the result of the blood-borne carriage of a micro-organism to the eye. She was not aware at the time so did not seek help early enough to prevent the damage. And, as a result, she has no depth perception which can be particularly ‘problematic’ from time-to-time on mountain ledges, as reported in GulfWeekly. As for John, he’s ‘absolutely petrified of heights’.
