Around the end of 2011, for a variety of reasons, I was feeling a little lost. So I decided to take a break from the everyday and do something about it. I would take at least a month off, and visit East Africa, with the main objective of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. I did, and at times it was challenging, but I felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment. Once it was over, I knew I wanted to climb again. But after Kili, I spent some time travelling through Kenya and Tanzania, and I was struck by the pervasive, absolute poverty. I’ve traveled to some really destitute places, but this was something altogether different. It’s one thing to see it in various media and become generally desensitized, (which I think to some extent people not living below the poverty line all may be), and it’s entirely something else to live it. To see it, walk it, smell it, feel it, and at the same time be amazed at how these people who have so very little have managed to maintain their humanity, their dignity, their kindness of spirit, and how willing they are to share their meager possessions. I was so very humbled.

Somewhere in my travels, I started bouncing around the idea of climbing the 7 summits. First whimsically, and subsequently a little more concretely, until finally I realized that it was something I definitely wanted to do. But I wanted to do it in such a way that I could positively impact other people as well. In Moshi, the town nearest Kilimanjaro, there’s an orphanage for street children, who are there because of abuse, poverty, or death, to whom I donated. (www.amanikids.org). There are many like it, but I appreciate their mission, their transparency, and the fact that they are an independent organization.

So I got this idea that I would climb the 7 summits, and for each one I would choose a local charity or cause, and raise money and awareness. And I would do one per year. And so, 777 summits was born. 7 summits, 7 years, 7 causes. Ambitious? Probably. But we’re only here for a short time, and in my attempt to live a life less ordinary, I’d like to see what I can do to make the world a better place, and I hope that you’ll join me in doing so.

George Vouloumanos