Gary_Yngve Posted November 28, 2004 Posted November 28, 2004 Thurs Dec 2, 7:30 PM, UW HUB Auditorium. $5 min donation. Steve Swenson will be giving a slideshow on his latest Himalayan efforts. He's soloed Everest without oxygen and summited K2 in the '90s; his latest trip involved an alpine-style push up the Mazeno Ridge on Nanga Parbat. Steve is a local and a UW graduate. You may remember him as the pancake flipper at the 2003 cc.com rope-up. All the proceeds from the show benefit the Central Asia Institute. They are dedicated to building schools in the mountainous regions of central Asia through community-based efforts. They also require that the schools enroll at least a certain percentage of women. The CAI has been very successful in the past several years, and furter donations will continue their success. Hope to see you there!
Gary_Yngve Posted November 30, 2004 Author Posted November 30, 2004 If I may, Let me expound some more on CAI's community-based effort. The CAI folks meet with the local leaders. They use local labor and local materials. They build according to the community's principles and the community's schedule. Let's contrast this to "We're going to invade and do stuff our way and set some firm date for elections regardless of the fact that the locals are mad and some are rebelling." Ironically, because of their efforts to work with the local communities (and win their trust), they cannot get any federal funding. Similarly, and sadly, after 9-11, hundreds of Americans wrote to CAI, calling them traitors. In the meantime, the CAI has received the blessings of the Ayotollahs in Iran and other Muslim clerics for their charity work. And the CAI's work is not without potential controversy. They require at least a minimum percentage enrollment of women in the schools that they build. Yet CAI's work has been well-received in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. I'm a big believer that education is the key to a freer and safer society, and that CAI is doing far more to making the world safer from terrorists than our current administration. (Sorry, this is my personal political opinion.) Anyway, this is a really good cause, and I hope you can make it to the show. Or if you can't, you can still donate some money to them. http://www.ikat.org/donations.html
Gary_Yngve Posted December 3, 2004 Author Posted December 3, 2004 Thanks to everyone who came, and to Steve, for doing an awesome show. I don't know the numbers yet, but we raised a few thousand dollars!
Jim Posted December 3, 2004 Posted December 3, 2004 Most excellent show and venue. Amazing photos. He has a regular job and still climbs at such a high level. I taught a session of climbing to kids in the Icicle last year with Steve who also volunteered. I had heard that he had been up K2 but did not know the extent of his experience. He was great with the kids and very unassuming. I wish other climbers would also be benefactors where they climb.
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