BZKIDZ is a foundation based in Lebanon that helps in feeding and educating 150 underprivileged children. No child should ever have to go hungry and it shouldn't be a reason why they aren't doing well in school. These children have dreams that I want to help them achieve.
The foundation will use this money to hire teachers to help children with their homework after school and to provide healthy food for them.
I first climbed up to Ama Dablam base camp which stands at 4600m to acclimatise. I left there and continued to Island Peak base camp to attempt to climb the 6189m mountain. I spent three days in the base camp to train and rest, and on the night of the October 23 at 12:30 am, I woke up, put my gear on, had my breakfast and started climbing. Unfortunately, at around 5400m, I became ill with the flu. At this point, I had to make a decision to either continue and physically suffer or to turn back. I chose to turn back.
The hardest part was actually making the decision to turn back. But at that moment, you need to be realistic and listen to your body. Other hard parts of the climb included being alone with just my guide and the cook. I had no connection or service whatsoever.
When I was at my base camp I had no connection, so we knew nothing about each other. I had to speak to an agency in Kathmandu to find out how he was going.They were the ones that told me he had reached the summit.
I had an accident five years ago where I fell and fractured my hip. After a year of not being able to do anything, I had this sudden urge to go out and explore the world. I travelled to Nepal and I fell in love with its mountains. I then started rock climbing and knew that all I want to do was be outdoors. So I focused more on adventure travel and produced an adventure travel show called Pulse of Adventure with Quest Arabiya.
Definitely the adventures I did on the show. I had to learn how to skydive on my own, I climbed the highest mountain in North Africa and I abseiled down a 140m sinkhole in Lebanon.
