Former Water Polo Player Steps From Pool to Desert

“I have to say that we’ve both been pretty lucky,” said Alex Velez-Green, a Harvard College senior. “We know a guy in Nairobi who had to spend two weeks in a hospital because someone beat him up.”

On the diverse and lengthy list of Harvard students’ worries, getting assaulted in Kenya generally doesn’t rank very high. But not many students also worry about how they’re going to traverse a continent in the span of a semester. Velez-Green and fellow senior Nathan Clement, formerly of the men’s water polo team, had to do just that, as they decided the summer before their senior year to put off their last fall semester to travel from Cairo, Egypt to Cape Town, South Africa.

Velez-Green had past experience abroad and was always interested in other countries. The same could not be said for his roommate, however. In his freshman year, an undaunted Nathan Clement decided to walk on to the Harvard water polo team. Despite contributing only lightly to the squad during his first two years, by his junior season Clement began to get some playing time and eventually even earned a “Major H” award.

But near the end of his junior year, Clement dislocated his shoulder. Full recovery, if possible, would have taken months of therapy, so he made the difficult decision to leave the team.

With increased time at his hands, Clement decided to travel with Velez-Green during the fall semester, embarking on a journey across an entire continent.

FIRST STEPS

The idea to make this trek was first born while Velez-Green was recovering from a tonsillectomy.

“By the end of the year, I wanted to get abroad again,” Velez-Green said. “It’s a completely different experience, and I saw all my friends going abroad for junior spring, and I was so jealous.… I wanted to take the opportunity because especially after you graduate, traveling would become a lot more difficult.”

With the itch to travel, Velez-Green eventually resolved to go from Cairo, a location with which he had familiarity, to Cape Town. The vast majority of the journey would be a completely new experience for the Harvard student.

Before Velez-Green took off, Clement decided to join in on the expedition.

“I’ve never done any travel except for Canada and Mexico, so when Alex said he was planning a trip, I said, ‘Hey, why not,’” Clement said. “Especially since I will probably not have an opportunity to travel once I get a job, it just felt like the perfect time, and there wasn’t anything really stopping me.”

Velez-Green and Clement officially touched down in Cairo on Aug. 22, and they were quickly reminded that Egypt remained in a state of revolution.

From their ride from the airport to their hostel, the roommates were stopped at checkpoints by soldiers bearing AK-47s, and they explored the city with cautious and curious eyes.

Velez-Green and Clement proceeded to travel from Cairo to Alexandria, where through a group of friends Velez-Green was able to experience a dream of his: riding a customized motorcycle, complete with blaring speakers and flashing, multi-color lights, throughout the streets of Alexandria.

BAD FORTUNE…AND GOOD LUCK

One day in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Velez-Green and Clement attempted to take a taxi to one of their destinations. After being told that a taxi should only cost six birr, the Ethiopian unit of currency, the duo agreed to pay the taxi driver 20 birr, and left the car after arriving at the location, thinking that all was well.

Instead, the driver demanded that they pay 150 birr, following the students and latching onto Clement’s backpack. As locals tried to mediate the argument, the duo decided to pay the driver 100 birr to end the discussion. Although the disagreement was settled, there was still a sour taste in their mouths.

That experience did not characterize the whole of the experience in Addis Ababa, however. At 4 am, the duo along with their Australian friend, Yanush, went to a muddy and rundown public bus stop with people everywhere. The three were at a lost as to what to do, but a man volunteered to take their money and purchase the tickets for them.

“We really had no choice if we wanted to get anywhere,” Velez-Green said. “We gave him the money, and I told Yanush to stay next to the guy, and I got behind him if he started running.”

Luckily enough, the man procured the three tickets for Yanush, Velez-Green, and Clement, while refusing to accept any payment for his services.

“Out of nowhere, by a crack of luck, he got us where we had to go, and he didn’t ask for anything,” Velez-Green said. “That has happened so many times on our trip. I’ve learned that if things are grim, you just have to roll with it, and especially smile at people.”

KILL’EM-MANJARO

After enduring an overcrowded, twelve-hour bus ride through the Semien Mountains, feeding hyenas, and going on a safari, one of the duo’s biggest tasks was to climb Kilimanjaro. Despite feeling ill in the days leading up to the climb, Velez-Green was determined to complete the climb and not give up.

“You start the final ascent at around midnight to make it at sunrise,” Velez-Green said. “[It] was okay for a while, but I guess halfway through, the headache got much worse, and then you get this overwhelming feeling that you have to sleep…. You’re just so groggy, and your mind can’t really focus at all. It became increasingly difficult even to walk.”

“Alex was no longer walking anymore,” Clement added. “He was just stumbling along. It looked like he was walking upstream through a really, really heavy current.”

At his weakest moments during the hike, Velez-Green was rendered unable to move. Sitting on a rock, he mumbled about how he could not feel his hands anymore and how the numbness was seeping higher up into his arms and legs.

“The guides were worried, and then they took off their own jackets and put them on Alex, and then he started feeling better,” Clement said.

Despite his illness, Velez-Green was determined to reach the top. He told himself that as long as he put one foot in front of the other, he’d eventually make it up there—and he did.

DANGER AND WORRIES

Despite the hazardous experiences that Velez-Green and Clement had through the trip, the journey was still safer than it could have been.

“We’ve both been scammed, but we haven’t been mugged,” Velez-Green said.

In addition, despite the prospect of danger, the two were most worried about their budget entering the trip. Including airfare, a safari, and climbing Kilimanjaro, the two have spent roughly $6,000 apiece, which they consider to be pretty cheap.

“We’re being careful not going to super expensive places, but we’re eating well and not starving ourselves,” Clement said.

“What I love about traveling is finding the local joints,” Velez-Green added. “If you’re doing it right, you can go to [inexpensive] places…. You have to be creative with how you have fun.”

END POINT

Throughout the trip, Velez-Green and Clement have enjoyed remarkable timing, as they entered Egypt during the end of the revolution and touched down in South Africa only a few days before the passing of Nelson Mandela.

In this final location, Velez-Green and Clement were lent a unique perspective and observed firsthand how a nation mourned—in a slightly different manner than may be expected—one of the world’s most influential leaders.

“The atmosphere at those services was remarkably [upbeat],” Velez-Green said. “More people were dancing and singing than crying. People grieve in different ways. At least the people I saw that were grieving by celebrating. There were a lot of feelings that he was the best thing that happened in the last few decades.”

Now that Velez-Green and Clement have reached Cape Town, they will both be leaving Africa shortly. The two have gained a multitude of experiences from the journey and learned a variety of lessons, and the takeaways are applicable to all aspects of life.

“I think that one thing that made our trip really cool was that we were extremely willing to change our plans,” Clement said. “So be flexible.”

Velez-Green added: “Don’t forget to smile.”

—Staff writer Patrick Xu can be reached at patrickxu@college.harvard.edu.