The foundation set up by leading Romanian mountaineer Alex Gavan has made yet another donation to the small community of Askole, a remote mountain village of Pakistan. This time, with the help of climber Sofie Lenaerts and "some compassionate people she brought along," the Alex Gavan Foundation offered warm clothes and footwear to all 312 children studying at the school in Askole.

"Acting from the heart attracts more acting from the heart. Doing good attracts more doing good. I am beyond grateful that together with my wonderful friend and fellow climber Sofie Lenaerts and some compassionate people she brought along, all 312 children from the school of Askole in Pakistan got a new set of winter apparel, clothing and footwear, through Alex Gavan Foundation," the Romanian climber said.

School principal Muhammad Ali also played a key role in this new donation campaign, which, as Alex Gavan explained, took several months to implement.

"The logistics of getting things done by supplying and then delivering such a wide arrange of sizes, ranging from kindergarten kids to teenagers, proved quite challenging in this remote village, the last one on the way to the ice world of the mighty K2," Gavan said.

The Romanian climber also talked about the vital role the small Askole community plays in the climbing expeditions: “Since the start of the mountaineering in the Karakorum, the community of Askole and the surrounding area had an instrumental role in the good course of the expeditions. No matter the climber's skill or experience, without those people's help would have simply been impossible to get those tons of gear and supplies to the base camp. So large are the landscapes, so great are the mountains. Time has passed, and the people of Askole still play an important role in expedition logistics. But time has changed as well, the world has changed, and I believe that for the children of today, there is much more in place than ferrying loads up endless glaciers. The children of Askole, like the children elsewhere, have so much potential. I know them, and they are simply sparkling.”

Further explaining the decision to support the children in this remote Pakistani village, he added: “The hand I am humbly extending them through Alex Gavan Foundation, Sofie Lenaerts, and all the other individuals that contributed is not a condescending one but a loving kindness one, from an elder brother to the younger brother and to the younger sister. They owe me nothing. They owe anyone nothing. They only owe it to themselves to mindfully live their Dreams and their Lives to the Fullest. Then the planet will be healed.”

The Alex Gavan Foundation previously supported the school of Askole by covering the salaries of three teachers for an entire year. The donation helped keep the school open, as 2020 was a very complicated year for the isolated Pakistani village.

"Because of the virus, no expeditions were organized in 2020; those three teachers were left without payment because the parents could not earn money. Being locals, the three volunteered," Gavan explained at that time.

Alex Gavan first went to Askole in 2007 and kept returning to this remote village over the years during his climbing expeditions. Most recently, he made a stop in Askole in the winter of 2020/2021, as he attempted a winter climb of K2.

Gavan is a leading mountaineer of Romania, having climbed seven of the world's 14 peaks over 8,000 meters without supplemental oxygen or Sherpas. He also used the summits of the world's highest mountains to advance environmental causes, such as the quest against illegal logging, protecting and conserving Romania's virgin forests, creating the Bucharest Green Belt, or saving the asprete, an extremely rare "living fossil" fish that is still surviving in Romania.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Alex Gavan; photo by Muhammad Ali)