TOUCH DOWN // WINTER 2017
young girls up Kilimanjaro in July . The purpose is two-fold : to take the group on a life-changing expedition and to raise funds to create a girl-to-girl mentorship programme . This is a new initiative by his Monde Sitole Foundation , which aims to promote a culture of achievement , efficacy and excellence in South African schools . He also keeps busy running the Desert Rose Adventure Club , which he founded in his hometown of Khayelitsha in 2010 to take at-risk youngsters out into nature to do activities such as rock climbing and bouldering . He managed to find a gap in his schedule to chat more about his life of travel-for-purpose :
SURE TRAVEL JOURNEY : Everyone ’ s first trip outside their country is significant in different ways . What did your sailing trip in 2008 mean to you ? MONDE SITOLE : It confirmed that greater things yet to be achieved were out there for me . Everything I thought was far-fetched became real and tangible . This is why I always emphasise the importance of experiential learning , because when you give young people an experience there is little that needs to be said – something intrinsic and latent inside of them gets switched on .
What is it about mountain climbing that attracts you to it ? I always say that mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my desire to achieve . They are the very cathedrals where I practice my religion , so there is a deeper respect and a yearning to make mountains classrooms ; to use them as a catalyst for real and meaningful transformation . Edmund Hillary once said : “ It is not the mountain we conquer , but ourselves .” This is a shared thinking among adventurers . Even in sailing we go to sea not to learn how to sail , but how to live .
Why did you start the Desert Rose Adventure Club ? Because I saw a lot of our youths are like
TRAVEL FOR A PURPOSE
60 // MAKE MEMORIES FOR LIFE
GET INVOLVED
You can help support Monde ’ s missions through sponsorships or donations . Visit mondesitolefoundation . com for more info on how to get involved . fish swimming in a pond without knowing there is a greater sea out there . They have somehow lost the capacity to dream . The outreach programme is about shaping active youths who will use their difficulties as springboards instead of obstacles . Instead of stabbing someone , why not try fencing and mutate that reckless spirit into something beautiful ?
Tell us more about The Monde Sitole Foundation . What does it do ? Currently we have a number of different initiatives on the go and in the pipeline , from an annual walk and tree planting
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expedition to female empowerment mentorship programmes . Innovation and ingenuity are missing links in South Africa ’ s education system . This needs to be addressed if we are to inject it with new life for the future . Serious changes need to take place in our education system to allow our youth to plan their own destinies , while spearheading solutions for the many issues that our country faces . This is why the foundation focuses on a variety of
Every metre climbed is for a good cause .
different initiatives that provide learners with the required values and skills to further personal , critical and exploratory thinking , encouraging them to partake and innovate , and to adapt to an increasingly globalised world .
Climbing Mount Everest is extremely dangerous . Climbing it without bottled oxygen increases the risk radically . Why do it this way ? I climb Alpine style – it ’ s as an act of respect to the mountain that I climb it as naturally as possible . The other reason is that I ’ m raising money for one of my foundation ’ s initiatives , the Khayelitsha Electronic
I CARRY THE SUPPRESSED DREAMS OF EVERY TOWNSHIP KID IN MY BACKPACK
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School . Here we teach ex-gangsters and ex-drug addicts coding , developing , app building and gaming .
And the seven summit mission – what does this symbolise to you ? I carry the suppressed dreams of every township kid in my backpack . My mission is to spark that dormant potential in all of them and encourage them to grab hold of their dreams no matter how small , big or absurd they might appear .