Solidarity climbing in Uruguay

SOLIDARITY CLIMBING - by Alvaro Susena, pictures by La Muralla                     
 
Most of us climbers feel that our lives took a complete change the minute we grabbed the first handhold. Uruguayan Pablo Turielle took that feeling and passed it on to people that not only never heard about climbing before, but had no means of ever even dreaming about climbing. La Muralla (The Big Wall) is today a climbing gym with a social goal, standing firm on the ground with the belief that climbing can change the life of everyone, also of those living in harsh poverty or affected by Down Syndrome. Today, 300 youngsters from Montevideo’s poorest neighborhoods climb at La Muralla and learn to take responsibility for each other, the group and their own community. In real life.
 
Uruguay is one of the smallest countries in Latin America, best known for its vast grasslands, great meat, good football players and beautiful beaches. I was born there but moved to Sweden at age 18 where I started climbing 20 years ago. It never crossed my mind that there was any climbing activity in my former home country, but before I left for Uruguay some weeks ago I just typed down “escalada Uruguay” at Google and what a surprise. Not only was there a group of climbers in Uruguay but they also use their passion for climbing to help other people make their lives at least a bit more decent. In a country where poverty still is a big issue; where thousands of children grow up in a hostile environment; where everyday life is a struggle for survival.
“Some of the kids don’t even know what a clock is when they arrive the first time,” climbing instructor Mauricio Sosa says.
“The goal for us is not to make them great climbers but to give them tools to cope with everyday life and society in a better way,” he says.
 
La Muralla works with children age 4 to 18 years and has no focus on competition or even chasing grades.
“What’s important is that they learn to take care of each other and the group; they get structure in their life.  They learn to be here at a specific time; they learn to take care of the gear and to help keep the gym neat. All these things make them more responsible and sensitive to the rules of society,” Mauricio explains.
“In extension, when they achieve all this, many of them start to go to school and that is a big reward for us and for our efforts,” he says.
 
But getting back to the roots, the founder of La Muralla, Pablo Turielle, launched the whole idea as a way to give back. “I got help from INAU when I was a child so when I grew up I wanted to give something back to society,” he says. “That is the objective of La Muralla, besides teaching and developing sport climbing in Uruguay, it is to coordinate and run non profit programs for Down Syndrome children and for high risk children and teens,” Pablo explains.
These programs are being coordinated with the Down Syndrome Uruguay Association, the Boy Scout Association of Uruguay and the National Orphanage INAU (National Institute of Children and Adolescents of Uruguay). These programs are geared toward children and teens that have no access to any physical education courses or activities. All the teachers involved in La Muralla work on an ideal basis, even putting their own money into the project. Because of that, the collaboration with NGOs is crucial, because La Muralla has no means to transport the kids from Montevideo’s slums to the location of the YMCA downtown where the gym is.
 
For instance, when I was visiting La Muralla one day, some problems with the driver of the bus from the NGO resulted in the kids missing climbing class.  I had a chat with Facundo Latorre, cofounder of La Muralla. “We need support to follow up with the kids in their communities. That could help a lot,” Facundo says. 
You can find more information about La Muralla at www.lamuralla.com.uy