And she meets the ‘Fresh Prince’ during her travels on top of
that.
HOLLISTER
Former Hollister resident Jina Kwon was successful in her attempt to climb the second tallest mountain in the world, and happened to meet Will Smith to boot.
Kwon, who was born and raised in Hollister before going to Columbia University and then moving to England, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa to expand her horizons and to raise money for the Campaign for Female Education.
CAMFED is an organization that educates girls in Africa as a long-term means of reducing poverty in rural areas as well as reducing HIV/AIDS infection rates. Kwon raised $4,835 for the charity.
The ascent to the summit took place Aug. 31 and continued through Sept. 6. It’s a difficult achievement that less than 40 percent of climbers succeed in accomplishing.
“It was the most rewarding experience of my life,” Kwon said. “Being in Tanzania where my charity is based, seeing how desperately poor they are and how every dollar I raise will help so much, was just amazing.”
Kwon got a surprise during her first morning in Tanzania. She was leaving the hotel she had spent one night in after arriving in Africa and looked up to see international superstar Will Smith.
“He was there on holiday and was nice enough to take a picture with me,” said Kwon.
Kwon said goodbye to Smith and left the hotel for a six-day ordeal that had her thinking she would have to turn back more than once.
“The first night was difficult,” explained Kwon, who said that she experienced the classic signs of altitude sickness throughout the climb such as sleeplessness, shortness of breath, choking and vomiting. “The third day I thought I was going to die. I was nauseous for ten hours and we had a long, tough, boring hike that day, and I was thinking I was going to have to head back.”
Kwon, however, soldiered on and at midnight of the fourth day she got up, put on a headlamp and began the final ascent.
“You leave at midnight so that you can reach Stella point to see the sunrise,” she said, referring to the 18,652-foot high point where climbers traditionally rest before making the peak.
She also noted how she had to pass a massive crater with a huge glacier on the far side toward the end of her ascent to the peak at 19,340 feet.
“It was such a feeling of accomplishment,” said Kwon. “I just sat there thinking, ‘I did it, I really did it.'”
Kwon stressed that she is still accepting donations and would love to meet or exceed her $5,000 goal. Anyone interested in donating can visit www.firstgiving.com/jinakwon.
