Orion Grassroots Network

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Global Explorers: A Journey Beyond Seeing

“There is a blurry line separating what the world sees as impossible
yet that we know in our hearts to be fully possible.”
- Erik Weihenmayer, the only blind athlete to reach the summit of Mt. Everest

Battling rain, sleet, and snow flurries at 13,000 feet in the Peruvian Andes, blind student Clayton Roper, age 16, stretched out his trekking poles in front of him, quickly tapping his way along the trail. Bell jingling in hand, his sighted high school guide Jack Knight, also 16, helped Clayton anticipate what was next.

Following trails that likely existed since the time of the Incas, Jack and Clayton are members of a team of 22 blind and sighted high school students from the U.S. and Canada. On this seven day trek from July 5-18, their goal was to reach an altitude of 15,600 feet!

Clayton has been blind since birth due to a genetic disorder called retinal skesis. Growing up in rural Appalachia, Clayton had very limited hiking experience prior to the trip. He was inspired to participate in this educational program by climber Erik Weihenmayer. Erik is the only blind climber to summit Mount Everest and he has summited the highest peaks on every continent. Erik serves as a key trip leader on Global Explorers blind/sighted programs by providing skills and expertise that the students practice throughout their experience.

Erik describes the sighted/blind partnership this way: “When my friends are guiding me, I can hear how their voices are projecting. So you’re not just blindly following and doing what someone says, you have to be responsible for yourself. You have to know the risks because it is you that is stepping out there, not other people. That relationship and that communication between the blind and sighted person is really awesome, and it builds up a lot of trust.”

Though Erik’s techniques got us to camp after day one, seven hours of high altitude hiking left the group totally exhausted. Clayton went to sleep without dinner. The altitude and the weather pushed his limits.

But kids are incredibly resilient. Whether they were planting trees for a day on steep, rocky slopes, hiking uphill for seven hours straight, or exploring ancient Inca ruins by moonlight, I always knew these kids would push through.

Prior to this trip, most of the sighted students had little experience leading blind students and many assumed it was going to be a lot more work than it was. Several days into the trek, what surprised the sighted students about guiding was how quickly they forgot that their partners were blind. Most blind students could walk for hours on relatively uneven terrain with little or no guidance. With changes in environment (rocks, cliffs, rivers), guides and their partners would buckle down and focus, making sure each word and step counted.

While it is the independence of blind people that most surprises our sighted participants, it is the freedom to test the boundaries of their independence that excites blind participants. As Clayton describes it:

“Through my entire experience in the Andes, there was one opportunity that I loved above all: the opportunity to experience freedom. The chance to run as fast as I could and not concern myself with my safety was absolutely incredible. For the first time in my life, I was not worried about people telling me to ‘slow down’ and to stop endangering myself and others. It was the best feeling I have had in my life to date! This feeling of absolute liberation was wonderfully empowering.”

Days later, at an altitude of 15,600 feet, the highest point of the trip, the entire team celebrated atop Rondoy Pass. Smiles were as broad as the wingspans of the condors flying above. For Clayton, the lessons from the experience run deep:

“Growing up as a blind individual, I thought I would never get the opportunity to hike for eight days in the Andes Mountains because simple opportunities, such as a job, are difficult positions for someone like me to attain. The first life lesson I learned through the Global Explorers Program was that I am not alone as far as blindness is concerned. I learned that other people have to deal with the same difficulties that I do. Realizing the fact that many other people face the same hardships and adversities convinced me that my life was not as hard as I had thought it was.”

Standing there with tears in my eyes, I finally had a more complete answer to the most common question we received prior to this expedition: why would a blind student want to go all the way to the Andes if he can’t see it?

The truth is, whether blind or sighted, most of us travel to the Andes for the same reasons. For the adventure and challenge; to meet, interact and work side-by-side with people of a different culture; to experience the hustle and bustle of a local market; to feel the spiritual energy of an ancient land by touching the rocks that were laid by the Quechua hundreds of years ago; and to work together as a team towards a common goal. There is so much more to the experience along this trail than vision alone can capture.

We had set out to remind the world of the endless potential within each of us. We came away touched by the palpable landscape of the Quechua and forever inspired by the passion and determination of each other.

As Clayton put it, “If I could charge over mountain passes, using only two trekking poles and someone in front of me to see that I did not bust my head on a rock, then I could do anything, despite what other people think I can or cannot do.”

We send every student we can home with that feeling that they can do anything. And then we ask them to do it. As the culmination of their Global Explorers Program, students complete a community service project in their home communities that draws on the lessons they have learned. At the conclusion of the program, Jack said, “this trek has opened my eyes to the world and made me want to make a difference in it.” That’s exactly what we want: to create responsible global citizens who feel empowered to make a positive difference in the world.

David Shurna is the Executive Director of Global Explorers. You can contact him at: . 2008 blind/sighted programs include Machu Picchu, the Amazon Rainforest, Kilimanjaro and the Grand Canyon. In addition to its blind/sighted programs, Global Explorers offers international educational programs for middle and high school students and their teachers, emphasizing science, culture, leadership and service.

Global Explorers
2726 Pasquinel Drive
Fort Collins, CO 80526
United States
888/ 359-3801

www.globalexplorers.org

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