Jordan Times
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Climbing for Jordan
Jordanian adventurer Mostafa Mahmoud strives to be the first Arab to climb Mt.
Everest
By Jackie Oweis Sawiris
AMMAN — On the eve of his departure from Jordan to begin a yearlong, multi-country training course to climb Mt. Everest, 33-yearold Mostafa Mahmoud has lost his wallet. His plane ticket is gone, as are his credit cards, licence and money. But he still has his passport and is convinced he will be allowed to fly despite his lack of documents. This conviction is what may make this Jordanian the first Arab to climb Mt. Everest.“I'm risking my life, so I have to give up my job to train 100 per cent.” On Feb. 22, Edinburgh-based Mahmoud will be trading in his secure, well-salaried job in the hospitality sector for eight-hour days of various types of instruction, including ice and snow climbing, abseiling and crevasse rescue techniques in Scotland, Switzerland, South America and the Himalayas.
“Climbing Everest is risky and dangerous, but you take your chances” states the pragmatic but passionate Mostafa. With the first successful ascent of Mt. Everest in 1953 by Edmund Hillary until 1996, one out of every four climbers never reached the summit due to injury, getting lost or death. Because of advanced technology and greater knowledge of the mountain, the odds fell to one in every 10 climbers from 1996 - 2003.
Physical endurance isn't foreign to this Kuwaiti-born, British-educated adventurer who is, among other things, a licensed rescue diver, bodyguard and gym/aerobics instructor. He has travelled to many countries, including a six-month expedition to Nepal, Tibet and India, where he ascended 22,000ft. at Chandratal Lake. It was during this trip in 2000 that he seriously began considering tackling the 29,000ft. Mt. Everest. Following lengthy research, Mahmoud decided now was the right time.
But before he tackles the summit, he must first tackle the logistics of getting there, including finding the more than $250,000, he says it will cost to train and take him from London to Mt. Everest and home again. After three weeks of aggressive local fund-raising efforts, Mahmoud still has yet to find sponsors here in Jordan.
Although he has found one foreign company who is prepared to finance the entire expedition provided he raises its country's flag at the summit, Mahmoud is adamant. “I really want to raise the Jordanian flag on the highest summit on earth.”
To do so, Mahmoud must also solicit a more personal kind of backing, one that he is also having problems finding. “There is no moral support here, which is just as important if not more so than financial support.” For Mostafa, climbing Everest isn't just a personal journey about reaching the summit and putting up the flag. “We have so much potential here in Jordan, but we're not using it properly. We're not promoting the country properly. This climb could be a huge marketing effort for Jordan.”
Ascending Mt. Everest is an exercise in transcending cultural barriers. By being the first Arab, and specifically the first Jordanian, to climb Everest Mahmoud believes that he can help Jordan to emerge from the shadow of the West's misconception, with which he has had first- hand experience, that Jordan is “a dangerous backward country where people live in tents.”
Closer to home, he also wants to get the younger generation in Jordan thinking about personal adventure, that nothing's impossible, to reach that summit of imagination is not impossible. “If you have something to say, say it. If you have something to do, do it.” He intends to inspire people on a global level to believe that “every time you walk 10 miles you learn something,” whether you walk those miles physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually.
Mahmoud plans to reach this global audience by shooting a documentary of his Everest expedition, which will be undertaken alongside an experienced, established climbing team.
For Mahmoud this would be a huge step towards one of his many goals — to present an Arab experience from an Arab perspective in the Arabic language so that the integrity of the experience can be maintained for the Arab audience. Mostafa, who is fluent in Arabic, English, Japanese and sign language, feels he has a much greater understanding of people who are deaf because he is able to communicate with them in their own language. Instead of seeing English-language documentaries about the Arab world, he would like to see more Arabic-language documentaries on the Middle East, subsequently subtitled or translated into English.
His post-summit plans include travelling to other countries such as Asia, Africa and South America with documentary filmmaking teams in tow to continue to bring the rest of the world to the Middle East and vice versa from an Arab perspective. By building these bridges, the Middle East and the rest of the world can begin to see the bigger picture, one that includes dynamic qualities that are so often overlooked in today's media.
The unreceptive response has not dampened Mostafa's resolve or enthusiasm; he equates the lack of support with a lack of nationalism — a condition he is trying to help remedy by advocating positive change through positive action.
“I have 100 per cent confidence in myself. People still think they're not allowed to think, do, create what they want. I want to show them they can.”
His tenacity continues to hold, despite his feelings that no one takes his climb up Mt. Everest seriously.
Yet.
But if all goes as planned, in just over a year Mostafa Mahmoud will be climbing Mt. Everest for the sake of himself, for the sake of Jordan, for the sake of the Arab world.