To some, Weusi and Vilma Tafawa, who hail from Buxton and Bachelor’s Adventure, respectively, might appear to be thrill seekers, but the couple, both aged 70, did not decide overnight to climb Africa’s tallest mountain. Their plan was put in motion some two years ago when they toured the foothills of Kilimanjaro as part of a wildlife safari in Tanzania.
It was on July 1 that they completed the journey that commenced on June 25.
“We were so impressed by the challenge of the world’s highest free-standing mountain that we decided there and then, that we will return to climb Mount Kilimanjaro,” Weusi Tafawa said.
The Tafawas are believed to be the oldest couple to successfully reach the peak of the world’s highest free-standing mountain; they are certainly the first Guyanese couple to record such an accomplishment. Apart from the challenge, the couple also wanted to raise funds for their foundation, The Vilma Nicholls Tafawa and Weusi Tafawa Foundation, which assists girls in Guyana to continue their education.
“Our belief in our ability to [reach the] summit was confirmed after we vacationed on the island of Zanzibar [a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania] in 2017, where we met a few people who failed to reach the summit because of altitude illness and the lack of will to continue their journey,” Weusi Tafawa told the Sunday Stabroek via email, days after the climb.
To complete the climb, which is 19,341 feet, the couple went through four different climatic conditions: the tropical rainforest of Tanzania, the Moorlands, the Alpine forest and the upper Alpine forest. This feat followed two years of intensive planning, training and preparation.
“This journey to the roof of Africa is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Tafawa quoted his wife as saying upon completion of the climb. At that point, he said, she was very emotional. She knelt and kissed the topmost soil of Mother Africa and gave thanks to the ancestors for their guidance throughout the difficult journey. For her the experience has strengthened her resolve of what is possible. On the other hand, Weusi said, “We owe a lot of gratitude to our parents who brought us up to be strong individuals and to aim for the sky and we are proud of our achievement at the age of 70 years.”
The Tafawas spent many years working in various countries and have lived and worked on all the continents, except Antarctica.
During their most recent trip to Africa, the couple toured the slave-holding quarters in Cape Coast, Ghana. “It was an emotional experience to see the conditions under which Africans were captured, held, traded, branded, before shipment through the gate of no-return,” Weusi said of the visit. “Our next move is to focus on the growth of our foundation, relocate to Guyana and continue to make a positive contribution to the social, cultural and economic development of Guyana, the land of our birth,” he shared.
Working life
Before leaving Guyana, Weusi recalled, he was part of the foundation staff of the National Insurance Scheme and of the Guyana National Cooperative Bank in the early 1970s. He later left for England in 1972 and he studied Banking (Associates of the Chartered Institute of Bankers) and Accountancy (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) at South West London College. On completion of his studies, he moved to Nigeria, where he worked for nine years for the Bauchi State Government in Nigeria, then for Plateau State Polytechnic as the chief accountant. His next job was as the chief accountant at the University of Jos before taking up a job with the University of Papua New Guinea, in the South Pacific as the vice president of Finance and Accounting, where he spent some 11 years.
He shared that he later accepted the position of comptroller at Bunker Hill Community College, in Boston, USA and retired after 17 years. He is now involved in the residential real estate market.
While Weusi was into numbers, his wife was moulding minds. Vilma Tafawa started her professional career as a teacher at Paradise Primary School and after completing a Diploma in Agricultural Science from Guyana School of Agriculture, she continued her teaching career at Lodge Government School. She later joined her husband in England in 1973 as the primary breadwinner for the family.
Big on furthering her studies, she completed the Higher National Certificate in Business Studies at South West London College and resumed her teaching career in Nigeria at Zawang Teacher’s College. In that country, she also obtained her bachelor’s degree in English/Education at the University of Jos, Nigeria but continued teaching at the Gordons International School and at Port Moresby International High school, in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. She completed her master’s in Education at the University of Papua New Guinea. She worked for 17 years at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston Massachusetts as the executive director of the International Center; a position that took her to over 40 different countries as a recruiter of international students.
She believes, according to the couple’s foundation website, that her ‘journey’ was made possible with the support of the people from her village, who helped her to realise her dreams. It is because of this that she feels committed to the education of girls. She believes that women, in particular, have a huge untapped potential and that their empowerment must begin early in their lives. She recalls the struggles of her late parents, who, with very limited education and resources, understood the importance of education. “They were industrious and innovative in caring for the needs of the family,” she said on the website.
The foundation
The couple’s foundation provides financial and mentoring support for girls who are academically gifted and financially challenged.
They hope that through the foundation they can champion communities, “where well-educated women serve as eminent leaders across all societal sectors thrusting Guyana to be an exemplary source of economic independence within the Caribbean.”
By doing this, they hope to empower and engage academically gifted yet financially disadvantaged primary school-aged girls in Guyana through “provision of academic scholarships and mentorship activities that build leadership skills.”
It is organised and structured as an unincorporated public charity that provides merit-based scholarships for academic training and mentorship support for girls with acute financial need, from underserved communities across Guyana.
Explaining how those who are helped are chosen, the foundation’s website states that it identifies primary school girls who are academically gifted and who lack the financial resources to advance their education and social development.
The foundation then works with a selection committee that comprises notable community leaders including, administrators of higher education, who help to identify and compile a shortlist of candidates for scholarships. The finalists are interviewed as part of the scholarship process. Successful students are awarded scholarships which will fund their school uniform, books and school supplies throughout their primary school education, according to the website.
Family
The couple’s union produced three daughters and one son. Their eldest, Tchaiko, has a post-graduate qualification in social work and lives in Florida with her husband, five children and four grandchildren.
Another daughter, Omolara, has graduate degrees in Chemistry and Biology and a post-graduate in International Environmental Studies and now lives in Ghana with her husband and three children. Their third daughter, Malika, has a post-graduate qualification in International Business and lives in Boston, Massachusetts with her family.
Their only son, Jumaane, earned a post-graduate qualification at Harvard University in Public Administration and lives in Nairobi, Kenya with his wife and their three children.