The mother of the late rapper Riky Rick, Louisa Zondo says trekking to the base of Mount Everest was more than just a trip up a mountain.
Mountain climbing became a hobby that the 58-year-old fell in love with in 2017, when she was intrigued by a friend’s planned journey to trek Mount Kilimanjaro in that year.
As soon as she was acquainted with this hobby, she developed a relationship with mountains as a place of prayer and a journey of walking out one’s traumas and troubles.
Little did she know that five years later that journey of walking out one’s traumas would be a personal one with the loss of her son.
Taking us through days before the 16-day hike, she said: “On Wednesday morning, when I got the news of Rikhado’s passing and right through the funeral preparations, I didn’t know whether the trek would be on or off for me. I just didn’t know and I didn’t make any decisions but just opened myself up to whatever. On the funeral day, the 1st of March, is when it was so clear to me that I am taking the journey, that I am walking with Rikhado on this journey.
“It became so clear that I even sent out my flight details to the organisers the following day and from that point onwards, was talking about ‘I am walking to base camp with Rikhado. To find the meaning of all of this, to find me in all this’,” she said.
Training that started last year in December meant going to local mountains, exercises at the Westcliff stairs, and walks even on rainy days.
“Preparing is also beyond the physical and starts with taking in the idea that I am going to be part of such a huge trip and going through a lot of material of what it is that I am doing. Preparing the mind as well,” she said.
And although she admits she had no sense of what Riky Rick thought about the hike at that point in time, it was not until she came across an email from her son minutes before landing in Kathmandu, Nepal, that she knew she was doing the right thing.
“The email was sent on the early morning of the 23rd of February [the day Rick died] where he said a whole lot of things but also wished me well on my travels while also thanking me for various things. That was an email that was directly communicating with me at a time when I needed some validation. It was like he was saying ‘go ahead. Good luck’, and that was worth it,” she said.
This trip to Mount Everest was initially planned for April 2020 with a close friend, led by Saray Khumalo, but because of the lockdowns restrictions, it had to be postponed until this year.
“On the hike, I began a pattern of documenting my thoughts each day at around 2am. The days I spent on the mountain varied in thought and feeling. Some days were like a reel playing. Different thoughts and emotions would fill me up, from the day of his birth, all the conversations we shared, emotions, questions and some days were quiet and it was just plain missing my son. But I realised that it was no longer laced with that sense of being thrown helplessly onto the ground and not having any energy but I was just missing him,” she said.
And after 10 days of hiking, reaching the base camp felt peaceful, she said.
“I remember the few hours before reaching the base camp, I was engulfed by a huge ball of excitement. On the day of base camp, the route was so challenging that I was focused on just putting one foot in front of the other. The mountains are so majestic and breathtaking at that point and then 5,664m up we reached our destination. I remember saying ‘Rikhado we are here’.”
Louisa was carrying with her Rick’s picture, her Saint Michael and Saint Christopher rosaries, the medallion that was made by his friends and the T-shirt being worn throughout the days of grieving; all of which she laid on a rock at the camp.
“It became such a peaceful moment for me with singing and prayer. It was a beautiful and quiet occasion. It was a confirmation for me, confirmation of the path of letting the trauma go. Transforming the trauma into just living with Rikhado,” she said.