Sydenham Woman to Climb Africa's Kilimanjaro

Jeff Green | Jan 08, 2009

For most people January is the time of year to slow down after the Christmas rush. And for Leslie Myles, a Sydenham resident who is a franchise owner for four Body Shop stores in Kingston and Belleville, it is usually inventory time. But not this year.

On Monday afternoon, Leslie flew out of Toronto, bound for Tanzania and Mount Kilimanjaro. She left her business, and her husband and teenage children to fend for themselves for a couple of weeks, and will be joining 11 other women who will make the five-day hike and climb to the summit of the mountain, the tallest in Africa.

For Leslie Myles the climb combines two passions: the great outdoors and community service.

“I love the outdoors and the challenge of taking something on,” she said when interviewed from her home just before leaving for Toronto. “I'm also really looking forward to meeting the people at the Amani Children's home, which is located right at the base of the mountain.”

The staff and children at the home will be looking forward to meeting the 12 women climbers as well, and to receiving a donation of over $60,000 that they will be bringing with them.

The “Kili Climb for Kids” is an adventure and a fundraising event, and Leslie and the other women have all been collecting sponsorship money to donate to Amani house in Tanzania, as well as to the Limestone Learning Foundation.

The Amani Children's Home provides a safe haven for street children in the cities of Moshi and Arusha in Tanzania. The subservient position of children in Tanzania, in conjunction with the scourge of AIDS, is what motivated the Amani home to begin working with children. Workers at Amani offer support to children on the streets, and provides refuge for them, but a major goal of the home is family reunification.

“Although Amani is a happy and healthy place, our ultimate goal for each child is for them to eventually find a placement with relatives or village members - to be brought up in a family context rather than an institutional one,” says the Amani home website.

Amani was founded in 2001, and is entirely funded by donations. In the first two years of its existence the staff at the agency worked without pay. To date 290 children have been helped by the agency.

Until three months ago, Leslie Myles knew nothing about Amani, nor is she an experienced mountain climber, although fitness and the outdoors are a major part of her life.

It was through a conversation in October with Hugh Wiley, who Leslie knows in Kingston, that she learned about Hugh's sister Alison and the “Live out Loud” adventure company in Toronto, which organizes trips to Kilimanjaro. Alison, who is a guide and an accomplished triathlete, is also the president of Friends of Amani Canada. It was through this contact that Leslie was hooked up with the expedition.

“I've never met any of the women with whom I will be climbing,” Leslie said, “but I expect that we will share a bond after this intense experience over the next couple of weeks.”

Climbing Kilimanjaro does not require major mountaineering skills, but issues of concern are the changing ground temperatures that the climb brings, from the African heat at the base to glacial snow at the top, and more pressingly, the thin air at high altitudes that climbers must adjust to.

To get ready for the climb, Leslie said, “I have been very committed, being diligent with my training. I made sure that I ate well and stayed in training. I have been working out twice a week with Jimmy Latimer from Sydenham High School and once a week at 'Kingston Body Management’”.

But from her conversations with people who are familiar with the mountain, Leslie has learned that the final summit can be difficult. “We are scheduled to climb it in five days, and we will be doing the final summit overnight on the fifth day. It will be quite lonely, just looking at the feet of the person in front of you, in the dark, step after step. The plan is to hit the summit at sun up. That should be quite a thrill.”

Although Leslie has never climbed a mountain or visited Africa before, this trip will resonate with one she took 17 years ago to Cuba. She met her husband there on a diving trip, and they ended up getting married underwater and moving back to Canada to settle in Sydenham. “I've been under water in a big way, and now I'll be at the top of Africa.”

Meanwhile, her husband, who works as a machinist, will spend the next two weeks keeping the home fires burning for the couple's two children, Emelia (16) and Cia (14), who attend Sydenham High School.

There are still opportunities to support the fundraising effort that is part of the climb. Checks made out to “Leslie Myles – Kili Climb” can be sent to 1046 Brawley Lane, Sydenham, ON, K0H 2T0. Charitable receipts will be issued.