life
A TALE OF TWO LIVES
There are so many things that the majority of us would want to do, if our lifespans would only stretch a little further. We live in a world that beyond our important commitments, we are barraged with endless distractions and ways to waste time. Local nurse, Tania Olivares, seems on track to having lived two lives in the short span of a decade: a nurse and an adventurer.
BY JEREMY GOMEZ
T
ania Olivares’ two-tale story begins at the age of 19, when she travelled to Africa to help in building a school and to teach English as part of a group from the International Student Volunteers program. Next, in September of 2016 after beginning her training as a nurse, she travelled
to Cambodia to volunteer as a teacher. Three years later, she returned to the African continent in February 2019, this time with close friend Daniella Hernandez, to work in a hospital in Zanzibar in East Africa. This expedition may not have been her first experience in giving her time and energy in a far off corner of the world, but it was one of her most profound as she came to terms with some of the difficult situations many have to suffer and endure. Within six days of seeking donations to help those around them, they raised £7,000. This brings us to late 2019, when Tania sought to achieve her aspiration of reaching the Everest Base Camp. At the height of 5364 metres, the base camp trek was planned three months prior and was a mission she sought to achieve as a solo traveller in the awareness
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Tania slept for three hours a night sitting upright, she couldn’t feel her legs due to the exhaustion. that this particular trek, beyond not being for the faint hearted, was one that would exhaust her mind, body, and soul. Tania arrived in Kathmandu amongst a thick cloud of pollution and the wreckage of buildings destroyed by a recent earthquake. Her eye was drawn to the multitude of prayer flags that adorned every point of journey; a sign of blessing above the streets of Kathmandu that was as welcoming as walking through Casemates under a colourful sky. The colourfulness was second to the warm joy of the people that she encountered. After a couple GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE JULY 2020
