Tempe pastor to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in fight against violence
Feb 15, 2018, 4:35 AM
Mount Kilamanjaro, as seen in the distance. (Flickr/Matt Berlin)
(Flickr/Matt Berlin)
PHOENIX — A Tempe pastor will soon climb to new heights in an effort to raise money and awareness for women who are victims of sexual and gender-based violence.
Pastor Kyle Glenn with Sun Valley Community Church’s Tempe campus told KTAR News 92.3 FM that he will be heading to Africa next month to scale Mount Kilimanjaro, a 19,341-foot-tall volcano in Tanzania, Africa.
Glenn is one of 11 men from across the U.S. participating in WE International’s “Mount Kilimanjaro Advocacy Climb” in an effort to “stand up against gender-based violence.”
The issue of gender-based violence has been in the spotlight recently due to the emergence of the #MeToo movement, in which women and men have come forward to detail their journeys with sexual assault, harassment and rape.
The group will fly out of the U.S. on March 1 before spending two nights preparing for the climb and seven days and seven nights overcoming it.
The men will climb the Kilimanjaro Shira route 7Bg, which was described as the “best non-technical, seven-night group trek on the Shira Trail.” The trail starts from the western side of Mount Kilimanjaro.
But the hike will not be any old walk in the park, he said.
“Mount Kilimanjaro is the largest free-standing mountain in the world.”
Glenn said he is doing this to help raise money and awareness for what he says is the biggest crisis facing us right now.
“More women have died in the last 50 years just by being a woman than all the men who died in war in the last 20th century,” he said. “These are the staggering stats.
Glenn, who is married with three daughters, said this issue is very important to him.
“Three out of five women around the world have been attacked sexually, raped, sexually assaulted,” he added. That’s a significant number of women.”
You can donate to the cause or to help Glenn on his journey here.
