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A “Lil Positivity”: Man Without Arms Or Legs Is Set To Climb 20,000 Ft. Up Mount Kilimanjaro

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Here’s a lil Friday morning inspiration: A congenital birth defect left 25-year-old Kyle Maynard a quadruple amputee, but that won’t stop him from braving one of the toughest physical tests a person can face — the nearly 20,000 foot climb up Mount Kilimanjaro. Though Maynard’s arms end at his elbows and his legs stop at his knees, he will use no assistive device to climb the highest peak in Africa. He’ll make the climb using only pieces of bicycle tire taped to the ends of his limbs with heavy duty tape. “This is something I’ve wanted to do for years, just because of the level of the challenge. The harder something is, the better the experience tends to be on the other end once you get through it,” Maynard told ABCnews.com. Maynard has traveled the world as a motivational speaker, competed as a mixed martial artist and a wrestler and owns his own cross fit gym in Suwanee, Ga., but he says that Kilimanjaro will be the hardest feat he’s ever tried. A main mission behind the climb will be to “send a message” to veterans who have been disabled and to disabled children around the world “to show that there are challenges in life, but it doesn’t mean that you have to give up. You decide how you’re going to draw meaning from the challenges in your life.” The climbing team for “Mission Kilimanjaro 2012″ will consist of both “able-bodied” and “disabled” civilians and veterans who will set out on an approximately 16-day ascent in January. Before the climb they will be visiting the Mwereni Integrated School for the Blind in Moshi, Tanzania, where they will deliver $25,000 worth of donated medical supplies to the school. Among the climbing team will be several veterans who live with physical disabilities, traumatic brain injury or post traumatic stress disorder. Maynard explains that wounded veterans have made a “huge impact” on his life. He writes on the mission’s website: “I am climbing for the people who may realize how much potential they have in their lives. I am climbing to pay tribute to my heroes — the men and women of the United States Armed Forces who have sacrificed so much to preserve my freedom.” Amazing. We wish him the best of luck. Source

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A “Lil Positivity”: Man Without Arms Or Legs Is Set To Climb 20,000 Ft. Up Mount Kilimanjaro

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Kenna On ‘Summit On The Summit’ ‘The Climb Had A Life Of Its Own’

Posted on March 15, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Watch the full show right here, and learn more about what you can do to help with the global clean-water crisis. Kenna Photo: MTV News In early January, Kenna began his ascent up Mount Kilimanjaro , the tallest mountain in Africa, in an effort to raise awareness about the global clean-water crisis, which affects more than 1 billion people on the planet and kills nearly 4 million every year. The journey was documented on “Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro,” which premiered on MTV Sunday night. It was a pretty massive undertaking — both the mountain and the mission — so it’s a good thing he didn’t go it alone. Joining Kenna on the trek was a team of of nearly 300 men and women, including fellow musicians Lupe Fiasco and Santigold, actors Jessica Biel and Emile Hirsch, plus scientists, United Nations representatives and experienced mountain guides. (Justin Timberlake had intended to accompany them but was unable due to scheduling conflicts; he filmed an introduction for the show ). Luckily, everyone made it to the peak . But now that he’s climbed back down the mountain, Kenna and his team continue the fight for clean water, lobbying Congress for additional funds to battle water-borne diseases, and urging concerned citizens of the world to educate themselves to the growing crisis. In his own words, Kenna shares his memories and feelings about climbing Kilimanjaro, and about continuing the fight down here on the ground . NOTHING IS GREATER OR LESS THAN US: TOGETHER The Climb Had a Life of Its Own There is a moment when you realize that it isn’t you doing it anymore — that something bigger and more powerful that you has interceded and given wings to what you were hoping for and catapulted it into the stratosphere. I have been blessed in my life to have two living, passionate and together parents who have explained that there are no limits to the power of conscious moves to elevate oneself. To find out that I had missed the plot on something as massive as was the problem my father had as a child with water-borne diseases, and to further find out that he had lost his brother to those diseases was insane to me. How could this be? Where was I? And how did I miss such an important thing? After that disappointment settled for me, I began to do research on the global clean-water crisis. It is a crisis. A billion people live without clean water and a child dies every 15 seconds. It is the equivalent to a 747 jet full of children crashing into the ground every two hours of every day, 365 days a year. It is unacceptable. The climb of Kilimanjaro was hard. It was arduous. It was nerve-racking because I worried for my friends. My friends and team went so well beyond themselves to be there for me, and found the issue touching them even more powerfully than when they signed on. All that to say, but Jessica Biel said it best on Larry King [when she said it was one of the best experiences of her life] … All of that, but it is nothing in comparison to the girl who has to walk six kilometers a day with 80 pounds of water strapped on her back to get it to her family. We are very lucky and should count our blessings. But better yet, we can give water to those in need by learning about the issue and donating as you see fit, to the organization of your choosing. If you are so inclined, I have partnered with the UN Foundation on a text-to-donate number: Just text “SEND” to 90999 and $10 dollars will come out of your account. That will provide 1,000 liters of water to a family in need and a year’s worth of water for a child. Conserve, learn, and send water. Find out what you can do to help solve the global water crisis now at the “Summit on the Summit” Web site . Related Videos ‘Summit On The Summit: Kilimanjaro’ Exclusive Clips Summit On The Summit Related Artists Kenna

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Kenna On The Inspiration Behind ‘Summit On The Summit: Kilimanjaro’

Posted on March 12, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Documentary premieres Sunday night at 9 p.m. ET on MTV. By James Montgomery Kenna Photo: MTV In 2005, Kenna — who had long heard stories of the majesty and mystery of Mt. Kilimanjaro from his father — decided to climb the peak. He made it to Kosovo Camp, a clearing located some 16,000 feet above sea level (and still 3,000 feet from the summit), and then pushed onward toward the top of the mountain. He didn’t make it. Five years later, he decided to make the trek again, this time in the hope of calling attention to the global clean-water crisis. Both the trip and the cause were personal to Kenna, because when his father was a child in Ethiopia, he lost his brother and friends to water-borne diseases and, as he put it, “I could have been one of those kids.” So, in January, with a crew of nearly 300 backing him up — including fellow musicians Lupe Fiasco and Santigold, actors Jessica Biel , Emile Hirsch and Isabel Lucas, plus a team of scientists, United Nations ambassadors and skilled guides — he headed back up the mountain. (His friend Justin Timberlake intended to join the trek but couldn’t due to scheduling conflicts; Justin introduces the film .) And their trip is documented in “Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro,” a 90-minute film that premieres Sunday (March 14) at 9 p.m. ET on MTV. And apart from detailing the group’s massive of scaling Africa’s tallest mountain, the film also contains a symbolic message, one that applies not just to the trek, but to tackling seemingly insurmountable issues like global clean water: that together, we can accomplish great things. “When you go by yourself and you’re on a solo mission, it’s not necessarily something that registers at the end of the day. No one has your back. Getting to the top of Kilimanjaro this time had everything to do with the fact that I had an army with me,” Kenna told MTV News. “Some of us would literally look at each other and say, ‘If you weren’t here, I wouldn’t have made it.’ Our director, Mike Bonfiglio, was basically watching Isabel Lucas, and saw her dedication when she was really, really ill at the top of this mountain. And he, literally, was like ‘She made it, I’ve got to do this.’ ” Unlike his previous attempt, this time around, Kenna would not be denied in his quest to make it to the peak of Kilimanjaro. He had made his mind up, and he wouldn’t be denied: because he had friends with him, and because he knew there were millions of people depending on him to spread his message. “I think what happened is our medic told us, ‘You know what? It’s going to be something you can actually accomplish, even if you’re completely ill and sick and close to dying, it will be fine,’ ” he said. “She made it so we felt like we could deal with being uncomfortable, and at that moment, I was like ‘I don’t care. If anything goes on with me, at this point, I’ve come this far, I’m not going down.’ ” Tune in to “Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro” Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on MTV. And find out what you can do to help solve the global water crisis now at the “Summit on the Summit” Web site . Related Videos Check Out A Preview Of ‘Summit On The Summit: Kilimanjaro’ Related Photos ‘Summit On The Summit: Kilimanjaro’ Red Carpet Related Artists Kenna

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Justin Timberlake ‘In Awe’ Of ‘Summit On The Summit’ Climb

Posted on March 12, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Film that documents the climb airs Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on MTV. By James Montgomery Justin Timberlake Photo: MTV News Justin Timberlake was there when his pal Kenna decided to climb Mount Kilimanjaro . In fact, he encouraged him to do it, and is “bummed” that his schedule didn’t allow him to join his friend on the trek. ” Kenna and I, every winter, we find a place to go snowboarding, and we were up on a mountain somewhere, snowboarding,” Timberlake told MTV News. “We got onto the lift, and Kenna was talking about how, before, he had tried to climb Kilimanjaro.” And there, the idea for “Summit on the Summit” was hatched. Unfortunately, due to work conflicts — the trek up Africa’s highest peak was rescheduled several times and ultimately collided with Timberlake’s filming for “The Social Network” — Justin didn’t actually get to make the climb with Kenna Instead, the likes of Lupe Fiasco and Santigold and actors Jessica Biel, Emile Hirsch and Isabel Lucas made the climb up Kilimanjaro), but he remained close to the action, getting daily updates on the trek. “I was getting sort of a texting diary from day to day,” Timberlake recalled. “And the one thing I heard was … the hardest part was the last day, obviously, because not only were they climbing from 16,000 to 19,000 feet, but that extra 3,000 was really brutal, because of the altitude. And on top of that, I think they woke up at 2:30 in the morning and had to climb the last 3,000 feet. I heard from all of them that the last 3,000 feet, every breath counted. Every single time you could conserve oxygen, you could feel it. It really counted. … I’m in awe that they did it. I’m really impressed.” Timberlake did record an introduction to the film that documents the climb — and highlights the global issue of clean water — called “Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro.” The 90-minute doc premiered Wednesday night in New York and will air Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on MTV. And just because he didn’t actually climb the mountain this time around, don’t count him out just yet. “I was bummed that I wasn’t able to do it, because I thought it would be a cool thing to do. Maybe one day I will,” he laughed. “But it’s really an inspiring idea and an inspiring task, and I was very proud of everyone who was involved with it. … It says a lot about all the people who were involved in the climb, that they were sort of willing to put themselves out there … to have cameras on them 24/7 and to say, ‘Well, if this has any effect on anyone who’s watching it, or creates any type of awareness, and gets $10 from one person, well, that’s amazing.’ ” Tune in to “Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro” Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on MTV.

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Justin Timberlake To Introduce ‘Summit On The Summit: Kilimanjaro’

Posted on March 11, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Documentary airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on MTV. By Eric Ditzian Justin Timberlake Photo: Michael Buckner/ Getty Images Earlier this year, Jessica Biel, Emile Hirsch, Lupe Fiasco , Santigold and others banded together to climb to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro to raise awareness about the global clean-water crisis. Now Justin Timberlake has pitched in to support the effort. The singer is set to provide a personal introduction to “Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro,” the 90-minute documentary about the celebrities’ climb that will air on MTV on March 14 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Masterminded by Grammy-nominated musician Kenna, the team took a six-day, 50-mile trek to the peak of the tallest mountain in Africa. “It was a combination of the mental and the psychological aspects of the mountain, of the slow-but-steady pace that you had to go up it, and that sometimes made your brain just want to explode, because you just wanted to get there so badly,” Biel told MTV News Wednesday. “But then you’d get this rush of inspiration of ‘I’m not doing this for me. I’m doing this for something bigger than me, for people who don’t have a voice, for people that need water around the world,’ and then you’d power through.” In addition to raising awareness about the clean-water crisis, the “Summit on the Summit” raises funds for P&G’s Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program , United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Water For People’s PlayPumps Technology . During the MTV broadcast, viewers will be able to text SEND to 90999 to donate $10 to the U.N. Foundation on behalf of “Summit on the Summit.” Each donation will send 1,000 liters of clean water to people in need. “MTV has a long history of educating its audience to raise awareness on issues that are important to them,” said Dave Sirulnick, Executive Vice President, News and Docs. “More than 1 billion people worldwide do not have access to safe, clean drinking water. By airing this documentary, MTV hopes to mobilize a new generation of young people who may not be aware of this global cause and take action to get involved in helping find solutions to the water crisis.” Don’t miss “Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro,” airing Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on MTV. Related Videos Check Out A Preview Of ‘Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro’ Related Artists Justin Timberlake Kenna

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Lupe Fiasco Used ‘Karate Magic’ To Climb Mount Kilimanjaro

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

‘Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro’ documentary airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on MTV. By James Montgomery Lupe Fiasco Photo: MTV News To make it to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, climbers use high-altitude breathing techniques, a whole lot of rope and some seriously insulated parkas. But not Lupe Fiasco . When he climbed the peak, he did it with some lessons learned from none other than Daniel-san. “I guess it was one of them ‘Karate Kid’ moments, you know? I did martial arts for, like, 20 years. My father was a Grand Master for, like, 40 years before he passed. It’s just one of those lessons that we were taught,” he laughed at the New York premiere of “Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro.” “We used to run in the snow barefoot, jump over cars, hang out of trees and do all types of crazy stuff, and that was just part of the training, to understand that it’s you versus yourself. The terrain is always going to exist, it’s always going to be there, and it’s whether you are capable enough to go through it. … Just some little mysticism right there, a little bit of that karate magic to keep the mind going.” And Fiasco — who, along with Kenna, Santigold, Jessica Biel, Emile Hirsch and a team of scientists, United Nations ambassadors and experienced mountain guides, took on Kilimanjaro to raise awareness about the global clean-water crisis — most certainly made it to the peak, braving freezing temperatures, dizzying heights and crippling altitude sickness. Of course, while all of those things are what made the trip difficult for him, the toughest hurdle to overcome was mental. “It probably is the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. It wasn’t the altitude sickness; it was more so the battle of myself,” he explained. “Battling, getting the variables right, working the math out about how much water you’re going to drink, how hard you’re going to push yourself, how mad you’re going to get, how much you’re going to think about going home.” Oh, and there was also the lack of certain, uh, creature comforts too. “It was very, very wild when it came to the restroom situation,” he laughed. “There was lot of rationing going on up there.” And while making it to the highest peak in Africa was certainly an accomplishment, Fiasco said he’s most proud of something else both the film and the team managed to accomplish: They made thousands of people aware of the shortage of clean water available to people in the most impoverished nations on earth. And they did it together. “There’s strength in numbers. It’s about mass. You can have one person, and he looks cool holding up a sign, but it’s much better when you have 500 people holding up the same sign,” he said. “There was actually, like, 300 people involved in this climb, and that’s what it took to get everyone to the top. And that’s what it’s going to take to change this global water situation.” Don’t miss “Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro,” airing Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on MTV. Related Videos Check Out A Preview Of ‘Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro’ Related Artists Lupe Fiasco

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Jessica Biel Recalls ‘Intense’ ‘Summit On The Summit’ Climb

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Actress says Mount Kilimanjaro ‘was like this mysterious, foreboding, ominous woman.’ By James Montgomery Jessica Biel Photo: MTV News NEW YORK — While climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, as part of Kenna’s “Summit on the Summit” mission, Jessica Biel got to know the 19,000-odd feet of rock pretty well. In fact, she’s pretty sure the mountain is actually a woman. “She was like this mysterious, foreboding, ominous woman. And she was hidden almost all day long, and just when you were unmotivated, and feeling like crap and uninspired and thinking, ‘What am I doing here?’ the clouds would part and she would peek out, and the beauty would strike you, and then you’d be inspired again,” Biel told MTV News on the red carpet for the premiere of “Summit.” “And she was literally, like, this woman who would pull this veil over her face and disappear, and then she’d show a little bit of herself, and then she’d disappear again. It was kind of this running joke, but I really felt that way. I felt like, ‘I respect you. Please let me get up, please. ‘ ” But just because Kilimanjaro was inspiring doesn’t mean she also couldn’t be positively dominating too. In the film — which debuts Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on MTV — Biel and her fellow climbers (a team that also featured Lupe Fiasco, Santigold, Emile Hirsch and a team of scientists, United Nations ambassadors and experienced mountain guides) were brutalized by freezing rain and snow, gashed and twisted on stones and dizzied by the rapidly thinning atmospheric conditions. But that was just the physical trauma. The real challenge, for Biel at least, was overcoming the mental aspects of scaling the peak. “It was a combination of the mental and the psychological aspects of the mountain, of the slow-but-steady pace that you had to go up it, and that sometimes made your brain just want to explode, because you just wanted to get there so badly,” she said. “And then you couldn’t see anything at night, when we were doing our ascent attempt, and you start thinking that it would never end and you’d start to think, ‘Why am I here? This is miserable!’ “But then you’d get this rush of inspiration of ‘I’m not doing this for me. I’m doing this for something bigger than me, for people who don’t have a voice, for people that need water around the world,’ and then you’d power through,” she continued. “Your mind started to play tricks on you. And then, with the altitude, you just felt so strange. You didn’t know why you were lethargic, you didn’t know why you were so tired. It was an intense experience.” And that bigger goal was to raise awareness about the global clean-water crisis , a problem much bigger than any mountain. But Biel was inspired, not just by her trip to the top of the world, but by the larger message the mission carries: that together, people can conquer even the most insurmountable of challenges. “That’s a part of all movements. One voice is something, but a group of voices can change the world. All grassroots movements started that way, and with the Internet and people following us and watching our ascent, it really feels like people were excited by what we were doing and hopefully were inspired to create challenges for themselves, whatever that may be, and for whatever cause that may be,” Biel said. “To get involved with their community, or pick something around the world that they care about, that they feel they should stand up for. That was the idea behind this. Kenna wasn’t going to stop, because he had this group of friends behind him, who were supporting him. And I wasn’t going to stop, because I wanted to be there for Kenna, and I didn’t want to take the group down. It was such a group mentality, and I don’t think we could’ve done it without everyone being there, and 100-percent ready for the challenge.” Don’t miss “Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro,” airing Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on MTV. Related Videos Check Out A Preview Of ‘Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro’

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‘Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro’ — Check Out A Preview!

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Trek to raise awareness of global need for clean water included Kenna, Jessica Biel, Lupe Fiasco, Santigold; doc airs Sunday at 9 p.m. ET. By James Montgomery Kenna Photo: MTV “Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro” doesn’t premiere on MTV until Sunday at 9 p.m. ET, but you can get a sneak peek of the documentary, which follows Kenna and his team’s treacherous trek up Africa’s highest mountain, right now. In February, Kenna , along with fellow musicians Lupe Fiasco and Santigold , actors Jessica Biel , Emile Hirsch and Isabel Lucas , and a team of scientists and experienced mountain guides, climbed to the peak of Kilimanjaro — some 19,000 feet above sea level — with the goal of raising awareness about the global clean-water crisis. It’s an epidemic that hits close to home for the Ethiopian-born artist. “When I was younger, my dad pointed out Kilimanjaro on a huge atlas. It stood in my mind as one of the wonders of the world,” he said. “This climb is dedicated to my father. As a child in Ethiopia, he lost his brother and lost his friends and family to water-borne diseases. A billion people in the world don’t have clean water. I had to do something about it. For me it’s personal. I could have been one of those kids. I needed to come up with something that would command attention. And the only thing I could think of that was that massive was climbing Kilimanjaro.” (For more on the climb and the need for clean water, check out the “Summit on the Summit” Web site.) During the ascent, things got a little rough, with the climbers braving brutal weather, thinning atmosphere, and dizzying nausea. At one point in the film, Biel explains how the mountain has a way of making even the most brazen climber humble. “I was sort of irritated that we were stopping so much, I said to one of our guides ‘Can we go a little faster?'” she says. “And then I got a little bit irritated, and I started going down this little area, kind of pissed off, and then I immediately got nausea. The mountain was like, ‘Don’t disrespect me.’ ” Before making the final assault on the peak, climbers rested at Kosovo Camp, a clearing some 16,000 feet above sea level. Everyone was tired and hurting, but the lure reaching the top of the mountain was strong, as Lupe Fiasco says during the film. “Everybody has a different set of variables that affect them on the climb, whether it be what they wear, what they eat, when they go to the bathroom, how much they drink,” he laughed. “There’s an 80 percent chance that you’re going to be uncomfortable. So you kind of have to rewire everything into being comfortable with being uncomfortable … [you have to] overcome yourself to overcome the environment. Because you can’t really fight against nature, nature’s going to happen regardless.” And while confidence was high, Kenna was still wary. He knew the toughest part of the trip still lay before them — the 3,000 foot climb to the summit — and he was trying to prepare himself mentally. After all, he had been to Kosovo Camp once before, five years ago, and the conditions proved too tough for him to continue on. This time, he promised things will be different. “You can only be so confident. This mountain has its own mind, and I’ll be lucky if I get to the top, I’ll be thankful if I get to the top, but I’m not underestimating what’s ahead of us,” he says. “I’m worried, because people are sick, people have knee problems, people are cold, it’s all mental at this point. I don’t know how well people are going to be able to pull it off, considering they’ve never done it before. Last time I was here, that’s what happened to me. It wasn’t that I was sick, but I could’ve been more focused, and allowed myself to be sick until I got there. So, I’ve charged my brain this time, if I vomit or if I trip or if I have frozen toes and feet when I come off and I have to get’ em amputated, I’m going.” Don’t miss “Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro,” airing Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on MTV. Related Artists Kenna Lupe Fiasco Santigold

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