Durban - In her personal life, single mother of two Mags Natasen has faced many challenges which she managed to overcome, but another mountainous hurdle now lies in her path.
This time, however, she does not mind and is looking forward to it.
Natasen, of Johannesburg, is gearing up to trek up Mount Kilimanjaro in July as part of the Trek4Mandela Executive Climb.
“When I told my daughters, Lauren, 13, and Jesse, 11, about my trek, they were uneasy at first. (Motor) Rally champion Gugu Zulu died while attempting to climb Mount Kilimanjaro on Mandela Day in 2016, so they were concerned,” she said.
“They thought I was risking my life, but I didn’t feel that way.”
The strategic transformation leader for Absa bank said “doing anything and going anywhere is a risk nowadays. I see this as a challenge”.
She said: “In my personal life, I have had to climb many mountains as a woman, a mother to a special needs child and as a single parent, so I am climbing for other women who have mountains to climb.”
Added to that, completing the trek was on her bucket list.
“When I was eight, my teacher put up a poster of Mount Kili and I thought ‘wow’, I want to climb that. But over the years, the timing was always wrong or something would get in the way.
“Eventually, in my 20s, I had my kids and the thought of the climb was too much of a risk but as the years went by, I remembered my 8-year-old self and thought ‘why not?’
“And here I am, doing it for a great cause.”
Natasen, formerly of Silverglen, in Chatsworth, was invited to join the Trek4Mandela Executive Climb.
Through sponsorships, she hopes to help provide sanitary pads to 200 girls from underprivileged areas - not just as a one-off as is usually the case, but throughout their high school careers.
“The usual sponsorship per climber is R85000 and includes the rollout of feminine health awareness and sanitary pads to 100 schoolgirls selected according to specific criteria by the organiser in conjunction with the Department of Education.
“But being Mags, I have a far more ambitious goal and want to sponsor 100 additional girls from Grades 8 to 12,” she said.
“Statistics indicate that a girl can miss as many as 50 school days a year due to a lack of sanitary pads. So this pledge will have afforded girls 50 000 school days, which they otherwise would have missed.”
She has already started training for the trek by taking hikes and long walks.
Natasen will join the group and they will summit the Uhuru Peak on July 18, which would have been Madiba’s 100th birthday.