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22
R
ami Al Khal ’72
climbed Mount
Kilimanjaro in November and
made it to the highest peak in Africa (at
5895m).
“We started the climb under heavy
snow, with temperature around 15°C be-
low Zero,” he wrote. “Not a single light,
not even moonlight but only our head-
lights. Sometimes walking on as narrow
as 30cm wide tracks covered the snow
with steep drop-offs on one side, facing
frostbite, hypothermia and altitude sick-
ness . Dawn cracked beautifully and we
got blue skies but with at least 20°C below
at the top. The view was breathtaking and
extraordinary. The feeling cannot be de-
scribed. It will live in me forever, and am
sure will mark me always.”
Al Khal, who planted the Lebanese flag
on top of the mountain, was in a group
made up of 25 climbers among them five
Lebanese men and women. Only six,
however, reached the top: three English,
one American, one Swiss and himself.
Before the climb, Al Khal went on a four
day safari in the reserves of Ngorongoro,
the world’s largest intact crater and lake
Manyara with the largest colony of fla-
mingos. After the climb, he re-
warded himself with a four day
diving trip in the sunny island
of Zanzibar.
Alumni News
R
ajai Khouri ’64
released a Christ-
mas album last December, “A
Message Of Peace At
Christmas”.
“I am very proud to
promote this compila-
tion to the widest audi-
ence possible,” he wrote,
“particularly in Europe,
the United States and the middle East,
and with it spread the message of peace
in the Holy Land and also Lebanon and
other neighboring countries. I strongly
believe that peace specifically in Jerusa-
lem is vital for achieving peace in the rest
of the world.”
Khouri started singing at a very early
age when he was a student at the Interna-
tional College and a Cub Scout at the Boy
Scout gatherings in Lebanon. He founded
the Glee Club at IC. While still a student
at IC, he was invited to join the AUB’s
Men’s Choir and later joined the Beirut
Orpheus Choir.
“I first sang ‘The Holy City’ in Beirut in
1974 with the ‘Beirut Orpheus Choir’”, he
said. “In March 1994, I was invited to sing
it in St. Georges Cathedral on my first vis-
it to Jerusalem since I left this city in 1948.
That was a dream come true for me.”
Khouri was again invited by Cannon
John Peterson in 1995 to sing “The Holy
City” at Lambeth Palace Chapel, in the
presence of the Archbishop of Canter-
bury, during the service to welcome and
commission John as the Secretary Gen-
eral of the Anglican Communion.
Khouri is an architect by profession and
is the founder the “AIC Group of Consul-
tants for Project Development and Con-
struction”, with projects in the Middle
East, the Americas, Africa and Europe.
He, along with HRH Princess Dina of
Jordan, was a founding Trustee of “The
Peace and Prosperity Trust” which raises
funds for charities through the universal
language of music, opera, and the per-
forming arts. He also currently sits as the
representative of the Anglican Bishop of
Jerusalem on the Board of “The Jerusa-
lem and the Middle East Church Associa-
tion,” whose president is the Archbishop
of Canterbury.
With excerpts from the CD cover
Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro
“A message of Peace at Christmas”