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Stand Out Adventures
www.standout-adventures.comA guide for woman climbers of Mounts Kenya and Kilimanjaro: 36-year-old Mary Kariuki from central Kenya, graduate of the American Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), and owner/operator of Kenyan agency Stand out Adventures Tours and Travel. I'll let Mary speak for herself in this excerpt from one of our e-mails:
"Being a female guide [in East Africa] isn’t easy when you are gone for a week or more and you have a family waiting at home. That’s why I am glad when I find a fellow woman who appreciates what I do. Tourism is an industry [in East Africa] that has been dominated by men, and it is my prayer that more women will join us in proving them wrong [in thinking that they alone can do it.] I am proud to be there with the men [on Kilimanjaro.] I remember in the year 2000 when I did my first Kili climb, no one could believe that a woman alone could lead a group of nine to the summit. It was history. Lately I have been able to train several ladies who are all doing fine as guides and also bringing up their families without any problems. As you know, women in Africa are meant for marriage and child rearing. There was a time when a woman who worked couldn't get a husband. I hope we shall meet one day and discuss these issues further."
Mary, we will meet one day.
28-05-2007
