CLIMB FOR A CAUSE: MT. PULAG

By: Sherry Rose C. de Guzman

What will happen if every hobbyist be a volunteer for a cause and help make it a goal to maintain continuity of service by recruiting another volunteer? This is what took place last February 26-27, 2011 at Mt. Pulag Primary School in Babalak, Kabayan, Benguet. To the sober person adventurous conduct often seems insanity. Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why one climbs. It is not only the hype and the excitement one feels. It is the sense of fulfillment that one experiences. And this time, Akyaters Adventure Club or Akyaters, a mountaineering group, conquered Luzon’s highest peak, Mt. Pulag. Climbing Mt. Pulag (Ambangeg-Ambangeg trail) on the group’s 3rd Anniversary is not just for the sake of being on top of it; it is advocacy that led the group there. It presented the group the significant climb last February 26-27, 2011.

Partnering with an organization, Black Pencil Project though Mon Corpuz, with its vision to catalyze its “One Pencil At A Time Program” to spur ideas among passionate individuals to become instruments of hope and its mission to reach out to every Filipino child in the far-flung communities around the Philippines; to teach, inspire, the early learners to go to school and to promote education as foundation of life’ success, the group was given a chance to be socially responsible. Through Black Pencil Project, the group was given an idea to climb for a cause.

“Every dictionary you give leaves a thousand meanings.” This is the climb’s theme for Akyaters’ anniversary climb. Months before the climb, members of Akyaters gathered donations like encyclopedias, dictionaries and school supplies. They were also able to get pledges for school bell and other reading materials for the primary students of Mt. Pulag Primary School. Senior hiker Mac Medrano says, “Our group believes in Black Pencil Project’s advocacy of changing the world one pencil at a time. And we are thankful that we were given an opportunity to be a catalyst of this vision. Not only we climbed Mt. Pulag; we felt all the more significant now because of the outreach program we had for the kids in Benguet. Thank you to all our donors for this significant climb.”

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