Olympian conquers Kilimanjaro for charity
Cheryl Bernard describes the feeling of summiting Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain, as “out of this world.”
The Calgarian silver medallist in curling at the 2010 Olympics recently returned from Tanzania after climbing Kilimanjaro to raise funds and awareness for World Vision.
Since Bernard’s retirement from curling last summer, she has worked with charities in Calgary and abroad.
“One was World Vision, it’s international and it speaks for children, and the second was actually with Goodwill of Alberta and I wanted to do something local, and that’s speaking out for Albertan with disabilities,” she said.
The Kilimanjaro climb was to support World Vision’s projects to help girls and women forced into marriages or “dirty and degrading work, slave labour, technically,” Bernard said.
The team, which included Bernard, HGTV host JD Scott, ET Canada co- host Rick Campanelli, as well as a camera man, sponsors and guides, spent eight days climbing the mountain.
“The first six days are kinda just six hours a day just up and down, up and down trying to acclimatize, so nothing really technically happens,” Bernard said.
“But that final summit night, the seven hours up at midnight, and you go straight up in the dark for seven hours. That was a slog and I have to say if I wasn’t with a group of people, I might have said, No, I don’t need to finish this.”
But finish they did, encouraging each other the whole way despite the cold and discomfort. But, the team wasn’t just motivated by the view at the summit.
“The day before we started the climb ( World Vision) took us to one of their projects, so where some of this money had gone to help women … create income, which then creates self- worth and that in turn is passed down to their kids. ( One mum) was in tears explaining what this had meant to her and to the women in the village because they feel like they’re actually valued in their community now,” Bernard said.
“And I think that’s one of the things we all said came back to us many times as we climbed up summit night, that we were doing this for a bigger reason other than just our own self interest.”
Back in Calgary, Bernard says she left “a little bit of me there,” in Tanzania, although she was initially hesitant to join the expedition.
“I had to think about it, because it’s definitely a physical challenge, but I think even more than that a mental challenge — it’s time away from life and family … but I made the decision to join with them and I think that was one of the best things I decided to do,” she said.
At least part of the physical challenge for Bernard was learning not to push herself too hard. During her two weeks in Tanzania she learned a few words of Swahili, including “polepole,” which she said the guides on the mountain told her all the time.
“The guys continually say that to you and it means ‘ slowly, slowly,’ which is not in my chemistry, I do not know what slow means,” Bernard said.
“But it’s a funny thing what that teaches you on a climb like that, because you can’t do it fast or the altitude will get you ... you do have to just put one foot in front of the other.”
According to the World Vision website, the Kili Climb for Kids campaign raised $ 143,430 of the $ 150,000 goal.