One man’s efforts to climb Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is merging with a Cayman Islands Red Cross (CIRC) campaign to raise hurricane awareness with the launch next month of the “Climb for Red: Peak of Preparedness” initiative. Martyn Bould, who has lived in Cayman for some 50 years, has been training the last few months for the 5,985m ascent of Africa’s tallest mountain.

Bould hopes to use his adventure to motivate people in Cayman to be better prepared this hurricane season as well as raise money for the Red Cross. The “Climb for Red” campaign will focus on awareness, information and education a month ahead of the September anniversaries of devastating Hurricanes Ivan, Irma and Maria.

“The farther we are from our last disaster, the closer we are to our next one,” said CIRC Director Jondo Obi in a press release. “We know that it’s human nature to get more complacent as time goes by, but with climate change and the growing intensity and frequency of storms complacency has tragic consequence. That is why it is so important for us to constantly try to engage our community into actively preparing.”

Bould arrived in Cayman some five decades ago to work as a chartered quantity surveyor and has managed numerous projects both here and throughout the Caribbean since then. He is “passionate about cultural preservation and development”, the press release said. He is chairman of the Cayman National Cultural Foundation, founding board member of the National Gallery and past chairman of the National Trust.

Bould and his wife, Vivian, frequently host cultural events at their home, and in 2012 he was honoured by Queen Elizabeth II with an MBE for cultural preservation.

The Boulds have climbed peaks in Bhutan in the Himalayas, and Mount Sopris in Colorado. For Martyn Bould, Mt Kilimanjaro was a natural progression, the release said.

The mountain, which is one of the largest volcanoes to break through the earth’s crust, is in northern Tanzania, just south of the border with Kenya, and of the Seven Summits it is the closest to the equator. There are five distinct climatic zones on Mt Kilimanjaro, which is an inactive volcano.

To prepare for the challenge, Bould started focused training some 110 days before the scheduled climb, practising in particular a breathing programme known as “Oxygen Advantage”, coupled with altitude training in Colorado, as well as continuing a daily workout routine with Dottie Rau which he has done for the past 20-plus years

Bould became more familiar with the Red Cross movement following the passing of Hurricanes Irma and Maria through the Eastern Caribbean, and he was able to witness firsthand the response by the British Virgin Islands Red Cross, which received support from the Cayman Islands Red Cross, in the aftermath of those storms.

“In light of the wonderful work that the Red Cross performs in the traumatic conditions following the passage of a hurricane, climbing for CIRC appealed to me as a natural way to give back,” said Bould in the press release.

“I hope my journey brings awareness to the importance of hurricane preparedness and encourages the community to donate funds to the CIRC, thus enabling their disaster preparedness and response efforts and capabilities.”

The seven-day trek to the peak of Mt Kilimanjaro goes through tropical rainforests, alpine moorlands, desert uplands and icy glaciers. Those who make it to the top are treated to one of the most spectacular sights on earth.

“Climb for Red” is a part of a greater Cayman Islands Red Cross engagement campaign called “Move for Red” which will be launched in its entirety later this year. The aim of “Peak of Preparedness” is to tie Bould’s movements up the summit with key actions in preparedness to ensure that Cayman’s residents are ready for the peak of the hurricane season in September. Additionally, “Climb for Red” aims to raise funds for the CIRC’s disaster preparedness and response efforts and capabilities.

“At the CIRC, we work hard every day to empower the community, to build its resilience, and to serve the most vulnerable,” said Obi. “Having someone like Mr Bould undertake such an amazing journey on behalf of our organisation and our work is truly an honour, and we are sure that this endeavour will help us reach a wider audience.

“People can follow his journey on the CIRC’s social media accounts, and hopefully while they are cheering him on and donating to our cause, they are also engaging with the information which we will be providing,” she added.

Should you wish to donate to the campaign please click the Red Cross link below:

https://redcross.org.ky/