The 42-year-old Thusani Mulaudzi, who grew up in Shayandima, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro earlier this month, as part of the Nelson Mandela centenary celebrations for Trek4Mandela.
She said the purpose of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro was to change the lives of deserving girls who were underprivileged and in the direst of socio-economic circumstances. The climb is used to raise funds to purchase sanitary towels to help approximately 500 000 young girls from underprivileged backgrounds to stay in school.
Thusani has nominated two local schools in Limpopo Province as recipients for donations. The schools are Edward Homu Secondary School and Tshiemuemu Secondary School. "I chose those schools because I wanted learners from my province to get an opportunity to benefit from this worthy cause. I also wanted to encourage the girls from these two schools to experience that there are people out there who care for them, and who wish them the very best. Every girl child will benefit by receiving sanitary towels from the Caring4Girls initiative," she said.
She further said that climbing Mount Kilimanjaro was the most exhilarating and exciting experience ever. "Although I have to point out that it was tough on every level and it tested my physical, emotional and psychological limits to the maximum. I also had to battle acute mountain sickness, as well as having to climb while there was barely any oxygen on the mountain. I tried as best as I could to alleviate the symptoms of acute mountain sickness by drinking lots of water (staying hydrated) and also taking Diamox (medication which is used to alleviate the symptoms of acute mountain sickness). All the challenges experienced, however, were nothing compared to the excitement of having successfully climbed Mount Kilimanjaro," she said.
She is an international relations practitioner at the City of Johannesburg.