{"id":121166,"date":"2026-02-23T12:21:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T12:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/121166\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T12:21:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T12:21:07","slug":"three-moravian-academy-students-will-trek-to-everest-base-camp-to-deliver-medical-school-supplies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/121166\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Moravian Academy students will trek to Everest Base Camp to deliver medical, school supplies"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Baki sisters have spent the last month breaking in their hiking shoes as they prepare for an eight-day trek to deliver medical, dental and school supplies to the remote communities surrounding the Everest Base Camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve definitely prepared and trained for it,\u201d said 17-year-old Celine, who will be joined on the trip by her sisters and fellow Moravian Academy students, Sophia, 15, and Julia, 13.<\/p>\n

The sisters and their parents, Sarah and Fayez, will fly 21 hours to the capital of Nepal and then take a helicopter to the Tenzing-Hillary Airport, nicknamed \u201cthe most dangerous airport in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their early March arrival will come at the end of the region\u2019s winter season. While temperatures are expected to climb into the 50s during the day, night-time temperatures are likely to remain below freezing.<\/p>\n

The Baki family will travel with local guides and porters, stopping for the night in local \u201ctea houses\u201d \u2014 mountain shelters with a wood-burning stove to heat the communal area.<\/p>\n

The sisters aim to raise $5,000 in donations to the American Himalayan Foundation and have also leveraged their father\u2019s dentistry contacts to collect medical and dental supplies.<\/p>\n

\u201cHealth is No. 1 \u2014 you can\u2019t really do anything if you\u2019re not healthy; you can\u2019t learn, you can\u2019t go to school, all of that, so giving back to the hospitals, the dental clinics I think is really important,\u201d Celine said, \u201cbecause I think a lot of times in first-world countries we kind of take that for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sisters have launched a GoFundMe<\/a> to support donations to the American Himalayan Foundation. The Baki family also recognized Henry Schein and Ultradent for donating dental supplies.<\/p>\n

This is the fourth charity-oriented trip the sisters have taken in the last five years. They delivered supplies to rangers on trips to Kenya and Botswana and raised funds for the Eve Branson Foundation that supports communities in the mountains of Morocco.<\/p>\n

Their older brother, Ryan, completed a climb of Mount Kilimanjaro in 2018, but the 21-year-old will not be along for the sisters\u2019 ascent to the Everest Base Camp, which lies more than 17,500 feet above sea level.<\/p>\n

Celine said the sisters\u2019 natural competitiveness will help them on the climb, adding, \u201cNo one wants to be the last one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Impact of travel<\/p>\n

All three sisters said their travels have been eye-opening.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to go visit a new place and see how their culture is there,\u201d Julia said, \u201cand give back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although many travelers settle on a favorite destination, Celine said the Baki family tries not to go to the same place twice.<\/p>\n

The sisters\u2019 trips to see rangers in action in Africa inspired Celine, who will study biology at Lehigh University next year, to seek out a future that includes study abroad and a potential career helping animals.<\/p>\n

Sophia also said travel has shaped her identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing different perspectives\u2014 that was really important for me and to be more grateful for everything I have,\u201d Sophia said.<\/p>\n

The sisters\u2019 mother said society is too focused on the individual and she\u2019d like to see her children push past that perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all are together, and it\u2019s important also to be connected with others and making sure others are OK,\u201d Sarah said, \u201cbecause if others are OK, we\u2019re all OK, so it can not only just be us. We\u2019re all connected together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sisters are already \u201ccitizens of the world,\u201d Fayez said, noting that their family heritage gives the girls citizenship in America, Canada, Lebanon and Switzerland.<\/p>\n

\u201cTravel is probably the most important thing to do, aside from the routines of life, as an activity. I just think it changes your perspective on everything,\u201d Fayez said. \u201cIt makes you more daring. It makes you more exciting. It makes you more interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Baki sisters have spent the last month breaking in their hiking shoes as they prepare for an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,227,182,139,432],"class_list":["post-121166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-education","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-top-stories-tmc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}