The man who climbed mountains to get back to his children and happiness

Nowadays Mosa Kiswane can be regularly found sitting on top of the world.

But a decade ago he had lost almost everything, was drinking in despair and loneliness…

Mosa was standing at the bottom of a mountain of problems and anxieties caused by parental alienation.

Today though he is an inspiration to all victims of this family ‘crime’ committed by exes who have become the real deadbeats of the heart.

Mosa, aged 51, said: “I’d reached rock bottom seven years ago. But I climbed back and got to the summit of Kilimanjaro.

“In 2016 I was feeling so low and suffering from depression. I’d been hit by many personal tragedies, it had been a hell of journey. But then I started to believe in myself and I got up again, faced my demons and took control of my life.”

And recently Mosa climbed the Aconcagua Mountain in Argentina.

He describes it  in his own words:

“The climb started in the 10th of January and it was to last until the 25th, the news from other climber was that no one was able to summit since  the 2nd of January due to heavy snow and bad weather.

“Nevertheless I didn’t let that bother me and believed that I would be able to summit somehow.

“As we started to go up and reach higher camps, it became harder and harder with each step to breath, more stories of other team’s failure in the summit push, as we reached high camp 2 or camp Canada as it’s called.

“My friend and expedition leader Mostafa Salameh who introduced me to all this climbing had to be evacuated in the middle of the night due to him suffering a heart attack,

“!I wasn’t aware of the evacuation as I was in my tent and asleep, which was lucky as I would have never left his side and would have gone down with him, he is an old friend of mine and we go a long way.

“Without my best friend and mentor, I decided I will do everything to summit for him as well, 

“On the 23rd of January we pushed for the summit. 

“We woke up at 3am and started the push around 5am, it was one of the hardest things I ever done in my life, we lost 4 members of the team on  the way due to frost bite and other health complications and they had to be taking down to save them, despite all this I kept on pushing and climbing until I reached the summit at 14:30, I was ecstatic and so emotional.

“I managed to raise the banners for NAAP and Diabetes UK.

“Only me and two  others from the team made it.”

Mosa’s extraordinary determination to fight back is something we see all the time – the courage of people battered emotionally by ex-partners and the madness of family courts, the courage of people who climb massive obstacles to get their children back in their lives.

And help others along the way.

Andrew John Teague, founder of D.A.D.s and NAAP, said: “This sends a message to all parents and children who experienced parental alienation, don’t ever give up on yourself or your children.

“I have experienced the horrors of family courts and having strangers telling you if you can see your children or not based on a system that is not fit for purpose.”

Mosa said: “My story is not dissimilar to many other parents who experience parental alienation, it nearly broke me at the beginning and I didn’t know how to handle it, but I refused to bow down and fought the battle with all I got, I learned many lessons along the way and this has shaped the person I am today. This climb was for you all.”

Mosa live in London where he has built a new life as a personal trainer, nutritionist VIP concierge at London Heathrow ensuring people have a smooth ‘journey’ through the airport.

He said: “I used to work for British Airways as a cabin service manager and did that for 16 years. I went round the world.

“Then in late 2015 I separated from my wife. This was a when my problems began … we were together for 15 years and had two boys who were 10 and seven year old. We decided that the marriage wasn’t working and we had to separate.

“Later, I lost contact with my children, not by choice. I wasn’t prepared for it. I started drinking  a lot and the stress caused me to have a mini-stroke.

“I was hospitalised and was unable to work for three months, I managed to find a shabby studio to rent but was unable to see my children which impacted me and nearly drove me to suicide on many occasions.

“I wasn’t able to function properly but I somehow managed to get back to work and had to take voluntary redundancy from BA as I needed the money so I could rent a proper place where I can have my children come and stay over.

“I did that and at the same time started my legal battle to be able to see my children, I self-represented and it was tough, Cafcass offered me supervised visit by my ex at the beginning which I took but it nearly broke me again.

“I was overweight, drinking too much and suicidal.

“But I woke up one day and decided that I need to stop drinking and get healthy. It was tough but I did it and I enrolled into college and gained a personal training diploma. At the same time, I got a part time job at the airport and since then I led a healthy life style and managed to get more contact with my boys.”

Mosa’s climbs include the Aconcagua Mountain in Argentina, Mount Elbrus in Russia which is the highest in Europe, Mount Aconcagua in Argentina, he offered me a place on his team as someone had to cancel at short notice and their place was already paid for, I only had one week to prepare myself but I took this once in a lifetime opportunity and said yes. 

Aconcagua is the highest summit in the world outside the Himalayas at 6961m and is the second highest on the seven summits list after Everest.

Pictures by Leonardo Antonio Avezzno

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