Written September 22, 2009 by Ilya Brotzky.

I’ve been back at Cornell for senior year for about a month now and a lot has happened in terms of the development of what is now known as the “Fistula Free Climb”.

From my older posts, you know  that it all started with me sitting at my desk at work, trying to figure out how to spend my Cornell Tradition scholarship. Now, a little over two months later, it’s evolved into a real project with other people actually working towards making it a reality.

It's already begunThe single biggest factor contributing to this is the fact that I’m at Cornell. Maybe it’d be the same if I was any other universtiy, but I doubt it. The wide range of student interests and just the sheer amount of motivated, passionate people at this school, current students and alumni alike,  has made starting the Fistula Free Climb a lot easier and whole lot more fun.

I got to campus with an idea and a small team of people and just through the process of spreading the word, be it through social media, direct emails or word of mouth, people have been joining the cause. There’s just so much talent and hope at a university that with the right direction and motivation, the people here can do wonders.

For example, at the beginning of each year Cornell hosts Clubfest, which is a chance for all the clubs on campus, and there’s a lot of ‘em, to promote themselves and bring in more members who share thier interest in judo, writing, Nigeria, you name it. What better place to make contacts?

After waking up on Sunday morning, going home, showering and getting dressed, I arrived, notebook in hand, ready to network like crazy.

And network I did. I must have stopped at every single booth and talked to what felt like every single person who would listen to me about the Fistula Free Climb. I hadn’t eaten anything that day so stopped by and grabbed a bunch of free food from whatever club was offering.

And it worked.

People’s faces just light up when I told them about the trip. I don’t remember how many contacts I made that day, but it was well worth it. Clubfest made me realize how much else was out there other than the Varsity Swim Team and that afternoon I decided to stop competitively swimming for good. After twelve years, I felt that it was time to move on and pursue other passions.

So close to the end of the four hour event, I was speaking to a girl at “Nourish International” when the coolest thing happened.

I was in the middle of telling her about obstetric fistulas and the work that OperationOf.org does, when a guy who had just come be the table interrupted.

“You should talk to the guy who is climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.” He said. “He’s raising money for the same cause.”

Because I was so tired by this point, it took me a moment to realize what just happened. And then it hit me. He was talking about me.

I laughed. “I’m that guy, you mean the Fistula Free Climb? How’d you hear about it” I asked.

“Facebook.”

The power of social media in action, thank you Mr. Zuckerburg.

I told him how cool I thought this episode was and we started to chat about how he could help me plan the trip since he’d had some experience with that kind of thing in the past.

It’s been like this ever since I got to Cornell. One person leads to another, who leads to another, who leads to yet another. And so down the rabbit hole I go, searching for that next lead, that next break through that bring the Fistula Free Climb into reality and our team one step closer to Uhuru Peak.

Today is September, 22, 2009. We are 112 days until we start climbing. However, I feel like I’m well on my way on another climb, one that I hope will not stop anytime soon.