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CLIMBING
AS A SYMBOL OF PEACE
"I
wander looking for oasises, where thoughts and dreams walk side
by side,
I
often would like to grasp a dream,
to stop time.
The hemp rope climbs up slowly.
To its end an old mountaineer is tied.
He knows life, the world, he knows me."
Fausto De Stefani
AN
INTERVIEW WITH FAUSTO DE STEFANI
by Mariapia Ciaghi
Fausto De Stefani is one among the very few mountaineers in the
world to have climbed with no oxygen the 14 highest mountains
on Earth.
Always in the front-line, also during protests denouncing environmental
reproaches, he is among the founders of the international association
Mountain Wilderness, of which he is the international guarantee.
Today, following an accepted practice, established by Sir Edmund
Hillary last century, he is committed in the making of a project
called A school in Nepal, of which he is a promoter, for the building
of a school in the slums of Kathmandu.
What has meant and what does it mean to be a mountaineer for
you?
Growing up as a man and understanding always a bit more the
sense of our existence. It has meant great tireness and unequal
rewards, fear of not succeeding and efforts of will not to give
in. In this process of growing up, what helped me even more, has
been my nature-oriented soul, which has pushed me, more than the
mountaineer challenge itself, beyond the known common paths. Being
a mountaineer today means fulfilling our goals in the true respect
both for the mountain or for its people.
How
has your passion for mountains developped?
It takes its origins from a mixture of information, suggestions,
feelings, that grew out from the curiosity of childhood. How could
I forget the tales so rich with charm and mystery told by my old
ones around the fire, in the cold winter nights? One of those
elderly men, with a long white beard, used to tell us of faraway
places, seen from the above of a hot-air balloon, and indeed of
different people. He would talk about noise and silence, of air
and water, of open spaces and of boundless freedom that you could
actually breathe. I have covered, with the hurry of youth, all
the steps for mountaineers, facing mountains which are among the
most demanding in the Alps and in the world; I have lived then
fully the adventure of Himalayan peaks, that welcomed me.
Preservation
and sustainable develpoment require a compromise on the international
politics level. Do you reckon a true commitment has been taken
in this sense?
Mountains should be considered the last realm of silence and
what they are today is a shining world of consumerism.
I think that the interventions made by men which offend Nature,
steal from the environment the very same premises for its integrity
and, in the end, deprive each one us of a little freedom. A meditation
on these aspects of modernity is absolutely necessary. I am not
asking to go back in time, but to go ahead with more prudence
and respect towards what sorrounds us and what will be after us.
Every
mountain has its echo...
The echo is something that can be heard no matter at what height.
On the mountain it is stronger and in some situations it propagates,
with a great impact, from valley to valley.
The interior echo, nevertheless, depends merely on your state
of mind, on your ability of hearing, and even more than this,
of listening to.
A widespread silence, on some occasions, makes a melodious echo
and it does not depend on the height nor on the difficulties you
might find.
Together
with Emilio Mutti you have been the promoter of a project in Nepal
for the building of a professional school. What are its goals?
We believe that professional competence can represent an opportunity
for social and economical redemption. The professional school
represents a further step for the support many children in the
community of Kirtipur, near Kathmandu, still need.
It is part of the program of interventions by the Foundation Senza
Frontiere Onlus, who has signed a twenty-years agreement with
the Rarahil Memorial School, beside taking care of the building
of the school itself and its maintainance, they are committed
to garantee free access to the professional courses to a minimum
number of poor and deserving people.
In
2003, you took part to the making of the film by Carlo Pinelli,
The Torquoise Horse...
According to a very ancient legend, the big Asian river Amu
Daya originates from the mouth of a turquoise horse, hidden on
the highest top of the Afghan Palmir (or Hindu Kush). In order
to reach that mysterious top, and to climb it as a symbol of peace,
we entered the most remote and fascinating regions of Northern
Afghanistan. It has been an adventure that put us in contact with
the tragic reality of a country, exhausted by wars lasted for
a quarter of a century. We've seen the devastations of an archeologic
heritage of priceless value, but also the strong will of the local
inhabitants for finding the way to civil coexistence. Maybe the
time to bury kalashnikovs and digging out the ploug or... the
axe has come.
For
further information and to give your contribuition to the project
"A professional School in Nepal" contact:
Fausto De Stefani - Elio Mutti (supervisor)
Fondazione Senza Frontiere-Onlus
Via S. Apollonio n.6
46042 Castel Goffredo (MN) - Italia
Codice Fiscale n.90008460207
Partita Iva n.01887890208
Tel. (+39) 0376/781314
Fax. (+39) 0376/772672
http://www.senzafrontiere.com
E-mail: tenuapol@tin.it
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| Mariapia
Ciaghi
es una Periodista Italiana que escribe en varios idiomas
para diversos diarios y medios del mundo y colabora
con el Periodista Peruano Guillermo Ortega en varios
proyectos en el Brasil y otros paises. |
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