Retired Kenyan Teacher Recalls Climbing Mt Everest Despite Doctor's Warning
He put his faith on his knees while making the ascent, some 8,848 metres above sea level, and managed to take it easy during his descent.
Marvin Chege 
62-year-old retired Kenyan teacher James Kagambi revealed that he ignored advice from his doctor before ascending Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain, on May 13, 2022.
In a recent interview with CNN's Larry Madowo on his latest episode of the African Voices Changemakers, Kagambi revealed that he shrugged off bad pain in his knee and managed to climb a mountain few dare to attempt and succeed.
He put his faith on his knees while making the ascent, some 8,848 metres above sea level, and managed to take it easy during his descent.
“I know my knees so well that I know how to use them. The biggest problem is coming down and the medicine for that is just going slowly. And that's why on my way down from Everest, I took my time.
James Kagambi with CNN's Larry Madowo. /YOUTUBE.CNN
"I didn't get to camp until 10 at night and I was okay. I was fine. I was having fun looking around and taking care of my knees,” he narrated.
However, the teacher, also known as KG, used the challenging feat which took him 40 days to remind African people to push themselves to the limit during their outdoor expeditions.
“My first goal obviously was to entice people of colour who I don’t see in the outdoors and communities that are not exposed to this.
"It’s for them to see that this can be done through my successes. My hope is that we see it happening in Africa because we need people to realise the benefits of being in the outdoors,” he stated.
Kagambi stated that before climbing Mt Everest he was the first African to conquer Congo in 1994 and Denali in 2013.
He grew up in the foothills of Mt Kenya and had a strong passion to pursue a career in nature, however due to a lack of job opportunities he decided to become a primary school teacher coaching athletics.
Kagambi further stated that he has begun an annual fundraising hike on Mount Kenya to raise money for surgeries for children in need.
“Now that I know that there is something I can do about it and I can tell people that there is something that can be done. I feel like I have the duty to go out and preach this and bring more donors. I feel happy that I can see some of the results of our work, kids walking out here who couldn’t walk in,” he added.
Other climbers who accompanied James during the climb included Phil Henderson, Manoah Ainuu, Fred Campbell, Abby Dione, Thomas Moore, Desmond “Dom” Mullins, Rosemary Saal, and Eddie Taylor. Their number was almost double that of the overall number of Black Everest summiteers.
"The Full Circle Everest team led by Philip Henderson from California has made history as the first all-Black team to stand atop the summit, the highest mountain on earth," Jiban Ghimire, managing director at Shangri-La Nepal Treks, confirmed at the time to the Himalayan Times.
Kagambi joined National Outdoor Leadership School as a field instructor in 1987. According to his expedition company, he has worked in Africa, Chile, and the United States as a backpacking, climbing, and mountaineering instructor, spending over 700 weeks (13 cumulative years) as an outdoor educator.
Prior to embarking on the journey to climb Mt Everest, Kagambi has also completed three of the Seven Summits and in 1992 represented Africa in the UN Peace Climb for the world on the Eiger.
"KG has summited the Eiger three times, was the first black African to summit Denali in 1989, and was the first black African to summit Aconcagua in 1994. He has led other climbs including Expedition Denali - the First African-American expedition to Denali," his expedition described him.
On December 12, 2013, he was among five people who made it to Mt Kenya’s point Batian, the second-highest point in Africa. He hoisted the Kenyan flag to mark 50 years of independence.
Mountaineers who use bottled oxygen to ascent to the summit of Mt Everest reveal that the exercise is often tedious and riddled with extreme weather conditions including negative 20 degrees as well as howling wind, as the summit is metres below the cruising altitude of large passenger aircraft.
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