Our porters were local Tanzanian people who carried our bags, supplies and tents up the mountain. This is done for many reasons: to increase the likelihood of summiting, to improve the quality of our overall experience, and to provide a much needed income for the local people. As we, a group known as "Journeys of Inspiration" and our porters, lived together on the mountain for nine days and nights, I became increasingly aware of a trend that was to change my long-held beliefs around happiness.
On one particularly inspiring morning, we were climbing on one of the steepest parts of the mountain's terrain called the Barranco Wall. Although this section did not require ropes and harnesses, it did involve allot of scrambling (climbing on all fours.) We pulled and pressed ourselves over large boulders and up onto small ledges with spectacular views of the campsite we had just left that was now hundreds of feet below us. Many of us struggled with acrophobia, a fear of heights, in attempting to surmount “the Wall.” While we struggled, the porters remained nonplussed, shouldering their burdens with consistently smiling faces and lending a hand to the terror stricken Americans during our dramatic moments. Their warm and congenial presence helped to ease our anxieties and helped us negotiate this challenging climb.
Most of the porters spoke little or no English and our "American-accented" Swahili was limited to a few short phrases. Yet, we understood each other and bonded with one another through this grand, shared experience. One porter in particular was wearing a brightly colored cotton tee; torn, brown work pants; and hi-top sneakers in stark contrast to our high-priced E.M.S. quick-dry, mountain clothes and hi-tech hiking boots. In a singularly sweet moment, he was to have a significant impact on me.
The laces on both of his sneakers were broken and in lieu of lacing them he had wrapped them round-and-round the base of his toes to secure the fading and worn shoes to his sock-less feet. He was carrying a burlap bag high on his broad shoulders. (I discovered later that the bag he carried weighed close to 90 lbs.) Despite his modest footwear and heavy load, he passed me with ease and with an unexpected, surprising countenance. My expectation was that someone in his circumstance might wear the grim expression reflecting the harsh conditions that he endured. But Instead, he passed me lending me a huge, genuine smile that imparted both a sense of knowing connection and a kind of joy that I cannot adequately describe here. Even at that lofty altitude, he maintained a joyful attitude!
This infectious attitude of happiness was pervasive among most of the Tanzanians I met. Yet, it is something that I have rarely experienced in the US. At the end of our trip, there was a group shot taken with the porters.(see insert) My expression reveals that I had fallen into a state of deep humility having realized the magnitude of what we had accomplished. And, I humbly understood that we never would have made it without the physical strength and emotional buoyancy of these beautiful people. (to be continued)
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
- Mohandas K. Gandhi
