A superb human adventure among the trailers of UTAT 2018
The club EAF « Entrepreneuriat au Féminin » (Female Entrepreneurs), part of an association of companies in the North of France (CPME Nord), each year engage in a project concerning a cause related to their human values.
This year the idea was to meet female Moroccan managers and to challenge ourselves with a 12 km ascent in the Atlas Mountains during the UTAT (the initiative came from Jasmin Conseil) for a good cause: the fight against breast cancer since we were going October, and this is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
The Cancer League is celebrating its 100th birthday this year, the cause appealed to us since we believe there’s a need to change the company’s outlook on cancer (even so it is managed by a woman!!) and illness in general.
We created two groups, the Moroccans who started to train in February with Sunday hikes once a month on slag heaps to get used to the ascents, the group from Lille started a similar project in the Parc du Héron in Villeneuve d’Ascq the same day, at the same time.
I choose the Moroccan adventure since, in addition to being a cause I feel concerned about, it was a personal challenge for me: I just started walking again after 6 months in a wheelchair. Also, I’m familiar with the company’s outlook on employees with a handicap/illness. Though I don’t mean to be too general..I had chosen my Everest.
In my capacity of godmother of the program ARELI EMERGENCE, I support young people with a background from immigration and particularly from the Maghreb countries. My first godson is called Youssef and is Moroccan, we met in 2011 and are still in contact.
During a Sunday meeting at Muriel’s (MLF Services) home, the trip was organized thanks to Dhouhas experience, who shared her impressions from the event: be careful with the pebbles at base camp, don’t bring suitcases with wheels, make sure to bring sleeping bags adapted to temperatures below zero…
We decided we wanted to look like a true team, so we made T-shirts with « UTAT OUKAÏMEDEN – Octobre rose 2018 ».. We choose to have turquoise T-shirts, since the three men in the team did not want to wear pink ones. The day we did the hike we were really proud of our T-shirts and the speaker talked about our cause. You can see a video on the UTAT website.
The trip started with an aircraft with a failing aircraft that luckily was replaced but meant a two-hour delay and an additional two hours in the departure hall. Time spent getting to know each other better in the face of adversity. A team cohesion and solidarity that never failed during the trip.
The friendly organizer of the UTAT, Cyrille SISMONDINI, who celebrated the 10Th edition of his event was kind enough to have the shuttle waiting for us, in spite of our delay.
Though we arrive late at the base camp, one hour in the morning, a team of UTAT volunteers was there to welcome us and had prepared a meal. This is when we changed into another universe: a meal in a Berber tent with Moroccan rugs, table and chairs covered with white tissue and the waiters dressed in traditional outfits who served us delicious hot food.
I had booked the option to stay at the « Club Alpin Français » in a dormitory for 6 persons. We were 5 from EAF (3 women and 2 men) and another trail runner. We learnt the following day that his name was Patrick, since when we arrived, he was already fast asleep, and that he was participating in the 105 km race.
This trip was a trip into the real world, with real values…my values: no smartphones, no internet or Facebook, no news from France or a tv with fake news. Some of us had equipment worth over a thousand euros and the Berber kids around us had nothing of this but danced and laughed. I, as my friends, left all our hiking shoes to the locals, and I regretted I did not bring more pairs.
We discovered a community of trail runners who always supported each other: the 4 first at the Marathon who crossed the finish line together. Our champion, Thierry, was the only one in the group who ran this race. His goal was to finish and arrive at 6 PM. He arrived already at 5 PM, so we missed his arrival!
The group who hiked the 12 kms started on Sunday morning. Personally, I stopped halfway into the climb of the first hill with Muriel, we took off again on the paths with Bernard, who was volunteer at CP 1 and did not want to leave us on our own, and arrived back at base camp after 9 kms…
I could continue writing on and on about this superb human adventure.
Elisabeth CHARLET
Founder and Manager at Pÿ Way
www.pyway.fr
From the North of France
