There was a point when Alannah Wong couldn’t get out of bed in the morning.
It wasn’t just because she yearned to sleep late, but because she suffered from crushing anxiety and depression.
Now a new goal is helping Wong roll out of bed to attend the Streetfront alternative program at Britannia secondary: she’s going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
Wong hopes to scale Kilimanjaro on the Street2Peak trip next spring partly to serve as an inspiration to others.
“It’s not just a group of kids climbing a mountain in Africa,” 16-year-old Wong said. “It’s more showing people that they can rise above the things that they’ve gone through. It might not be climbing some massive mountain but it’s just getting out of bed in the morning, like you can do it.”
Fifteen-year-old Brandon Kaine and Streetfront teacher Trevor Stokes both thought it was a joke when the trip was suggested. They weren’t worried about students’ climbing abilities.
“It seemed like a perfect vehicle for them,” said Stokes, who teaches 21 grades 8 to 10 students in the alternative program that’s heavy on physical and outdoor activities. “They’ve got the physical tools to do it and the mental toughness and the stamina.”
But both Stokes and Kaine were concerned they couldn’t raise the required money.
Britannia secondary’s vice principal Andrew Schofield instigated the trip after his brother in South Africa had suggested Schofield visit Kilimanjaro for his 50th birthday. Schofield decided it would be more rewarding to send students.
“There are kids in the school here, we could put up some posters, their parents would write out a cheque for $6,000 and they’d be on the trip,” Schofield said. “But we wanted to attract the kids who have had the least life opportunities to break out of the social worlds that they’re trapped in.”
Streetfront students cope with learning disabilities, family struggles and difficulties with the law.
Eighty per cent of Streetfront students are aboriginal and deal with “intergenerational trauma,” or what Schofield called the “effects of colonization.”
Street2Peak’s fundraising campaign will ramp up with a Street2Peak Family Charity Run at Jericho Beach, May 10.
Schofield hopes to see 18 students and six support workers travel to Tanzania. He estimates the shortest version of the trip would cost nearly $4,000 per student. He hopes to raise more per student so they can also visit the Serengeti plains during the annual antelope migration, Olduvai Gorge and volunteer at an orphanage for children with HIV/AIDS.
For more information, see street2peak.com.
(This story has been modified since it was first posted.)
crossi@vancourier.com
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