Ray Zahab treks to the South Pole

Translator: Iris Xholi Reviewer: Helena Bedalli

A month ago today

Si sot nje muaj me pare

I stood there:

qendrova atje:

90 degrees south, the top of

90 grade ne jug, maja e

the bottom of the world, the Geographic South Pole.

fundit te botes, Gjeografikisht Poli i Jugut.

And I stood there beside two very good friends of mine,

Dhe qendrova atje me dy miq shume te mire ne krahe,

Richard Weber and Kevin Vallely.

Richard Webber dhe Kevin Vallely.

Together we had just broken the world speed record

Se bashku kishim thyer rekordin boteror te shpejtesise

for a trek to the South Pole.

per nje udhetim ne Polin e Jugut.

It took us 33 days,

Kjo zgjati 33 dite,

23 hours and 55 minutes to get there.

23 ore dhe 55 minuta per te arritur atje.

We shaved five days off the previous best time.

Ne ja dolem ne pese dite me pak se heren e fundit.

And in the process, I became the first person in history

Dhe ne proces, une u bera njeriu i pare ne histori

to make the entire 650-mile journey,

qe kreu te gjithe udhetimin prej 650 miljesh,

from Hercules Inlet to South Pole,

nga Hercules ne Polin e Jugut,

solely on feet, without skis.

vetem ne kembe, me ski.

Now, many of you are probably saying, "Wait a sec,

Ndoshta shume nga ju jane duke thene tani, "Prit nje sekonde,

is this tough to do?"

a eshte e veshtire per tu bere kjo?"

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

Imagine, if you will,

Imagjino, nese deshiron,

dragging a sled, as you just saw in that video clip,

te terheqesh nje slite, sikunder sapo pate ne kete video klip,

with 170 pounds of gear,

me nje peshe prej 170 paundesh,

in it everything you need to survive on your Antarctic trek.

me gjithcka te nevojitet per te mbijetuar ne udhetimin ne Antarktik.

It's going to be 40 below, every single day.

Temperatura, cdo dite, do shkojne ne minus 40 grade celcius.

You'll be in a massive headwind.

Do gjendesh ne nje ere te forte.

And at some point you're going to have to cross these cracks in the ice,

Dhe ne disa raste do te te duhet te besh kete udhetim ne akull,

these crevasses.

keto carje te thella.

Some of them have a very precarious thin footbridge underneath them

Disa prej tyre kane nje vend kalimtaresh shume te pasigurte dhe te holle nen to

that could give way at a moment's notice,

qe mund te shembet pernjehere,

taking your sled, you, into the abyss, never to be seen again.

qe te merr ty dhe sliten tende ne humnere, per te mos u pare me kurre.

The punchline to your journey? Look at the horizon.

Qershia mbi torte e ketij udhetimi? Shiheni horizontin.

Yes, it's uphill the entire way,

Po, eshte ne ngjitje gjate tere kohes,

because the South Pole is at 10,000 feet,

sepse Poli i Jugut eshte ne 10,000 kembe,

and you're starting at sea level.

dhe nisja fillon ne nivelin e detit.

Our journey did not, in fact, begin at Hercules Inlet,

Udhetimi yne ne fakt, nuk nisi ne gjirin e Heracules,

where frozen ocean meets the land of Antarctica.

ku oqeani i ngrire takohet me token e Antarktikes.

It began a little less than two years ago.

Filloi gjithcka pak me pak se dy vite te shkuara.

A couple of buddies of mine and I

Disa miqte e mi dhe une

had finished a 111-day run across the entire Sahara desert.

kishim perfunduar nje vrapim per 111 dite rreth shkretetires se Saharase.

And while we were there we learned

Dhe ndersa ishim atje mesuam

the seriousness of the water crisis in Northern Africa.

per seriozitetin e krizes se ujit ne Afriken Veriore.

We also learned that many of the issues facing the people of Northern Africa

Gjithashtu mesuam qe shume prej problemeve qe perballen njerezit ne Afriken Veriore

affected young people the most.

prekte me se tepermi te rinjte.

I came home to my wife after 111 days of running in the sand,

U riktheva ne shtepi tek gruaja ime, pas 11 dite vrap neper shkretetire,

and I said, "You know, there's no doubt if this bozo can get across the desert,

dhe thashe, "E di cfare, nuk ka asnje dyshim, nese mund te kaloj neper shkretetire,

we are capable of doing anything we set our minds to."

mund te bejme gjithcka na vjen ne mendje."

But if I'm going to continue doing these adventures, there has to be

Por, nqs do te vazhdoj te bej keto aventura

a reason for me to do them

duhet te kete nje arsye per to

beyond just getting there.

perpos te shkuarit atje.

Around that time I met an extraordinary human being,

Rreth te njejtes periudhe u njoha me nje njeri te jashtezakonshem,

Peter Thum, who inspired me with his actions.

Peter Thum, i cili me frymezoi me veprat e tij.

He's trying to find and solve water issues, the crisis around the world.

Ai eshte duke u perpjekur per te zgjidhur krizen e ujit te pijshem neper bote.

His dedication inspired me to come up with this expedition:

Ishte dedikimi i tij qe me frymezoi mua te organizoja kete ekspedite:

a run to the South Pole

nje vrap ne Polin e Veriut

where, with an interactive website,

ku, me nje website interaktiv,

I will be able to bring young people, students and teachers from around the world

Do te jem ne gjendje per te sjellur te rinjte, studentet dhe mesuesit nga e gjithe bota

on board the expedition with me,

ne ekspedite me mua,

as active members.

si nje anetar aktiv.

So we would have a live website, that every single day of the 33 days,

Ndaj, do te kishim nje website per se gjalli, qe per cdo nga ato 33 dite,

we would be blogging, telling stories of,

do te bejme blog, te tregojme histori,

you know, depleted ozone forcing us to cover our faces,

e di, problemet me ozonin na detyron te mbulojme fytyrat,

or we will burn.

ose ndoshta digjemi.

Crossing miles and miles of sastrugi --

Te kalosh milje te tera me kodra akullnajore--

frozen ice snowdrifts that could be hip-deep.

shtjella te stermedha debore te ngrire.

I'm telling you, crossing these things with 170-pound sled,

T'ju them te verteten, ti kalosh ato me nje slite qe peshon 170 paund,

that sled may as well have weighed 1,700 pounds,

qe te dukeshin si 1.700 paund,

because that's what it felt like.

sepse te ketilla te ngjasonin.

We were blogging to this live website daily

Ne ishim duke shkruar ne kete website perdite

to these students that were tracking us as well,

studenteve qe na ndiqnin cdo dite,

about 10-hour trekking days,

pothuajse 10 ore ecje ne dite,

15-hour trekking days,

15 ore ecje ne dite,

sometimes 20 hours of trekking daily to meet our goal.

ndonjehere edhe nga 20 ore ecje ne dite per te arritur synimin tone.

We'd catch cat-naps at 40 below on our sled, incidentally.

Binim e flinim per pak ne sliten tone me temperature me te uleta se 40 grade.

In turn, students,

Me rradhe, studente,

people from around the world, would ask us questions.

njerez nga mbare bota, do te na benin pyetje.

Young people would ask the most amazing questions.

Te rinjte do te na benin pyetjet me fantastike.

One of my favorite: It's 40 below, you've got to go to the bathroom,

Nje nga me te preferuarat e mia: Temperaturat minus 40 grade dhe te shkohet ne banje,

where are you going to go and how are you going to do it?

ku do shkoni dhe si do e beni?

I'm not going to answer that. But I will answer some of the more popular questions.

Nuk do ti pergjigjem kesaj pyetje. Por do ti pergjigjem disa pyetjeve te tjera nga me populloret.

Where do you sleep? We slept in a tent that was very low to the ground,

Ku flinit? Ne flinim ne nje tende qe ishte shume poshte ne toke,

because the winds on Antarctica were so extreme, it would blow anything else away.

sepse ererat e Antarktikes jane aq ekstreme, sa do te merrnin gjithcka perpara.

What do you eat? One of my favorite dishes on expedition:

Me se ushqeheshit? Nje nga ushqimet e mia te preferuara gjate ekspedites:

butter and bacon. It's about a million calories.

gjalp dhe proshute e dhjamosur. Me nje vlere kalorike prej nje milion kalorish.

We were burning about 8,500 a day,

Ne digjnim rreth 8,500 kalori ne dite,

so we needed it.

keshtu qe na hynin ne pune.

How many batteries do you carry for all the equipment that you have?

Sa bateri mbanit me vete per te gjitha paisjet qe mbani me vete?

Virtually none. All of our equipment, including film equipment,

Pothuajse asnje. Te gjitha paisjet, duke perfshire paisjet e filmimit,

was charged by the sun.

karikohej nga dielli.

And do you get along? I certainly hope so,

Ja kaloni mire bashke? Shpresoj qe po,

because at some point or another on this expedition,

sepse ne nje pike a ne nje tjeter te kesaj ekspedite,

one of your teammates is going to have to take a very big needle,

nja nga shoket e tu te grupit duhet te marre nje gjilpere te madhe,

and put it in an infected blister, and drain it for you.

dhe do ti duhet ta fuse ne nje plage te infektuar, per ta perthare.

But seriously, seriously, we did get along,

Por seriozisht, ne kaluam mire bashke,

because we had a common goal of wanting to inspire these young people.

sepse kishim nje qellim te perbashket per te frymezuar te rinjte qe po na shihnin.

They were our teammates! They were inspiring us.

Ato ishin pjestare te grupit. Ata ishin frymezimi yne.

The stories we were hearing got us to the South Pole.

Historite qe degjonim na cuan ne Polin e Jugut.

The website worked brilliantly as a two-way street of communication.

Websiti punonte me se miri per te cua dhe marre informacion.

Young people in northern Canada, kids in an elementary school,

Te rinj ne Kanadane veriore, femije ne shkolle fillore,

dragging sleds across the school-yard,

duke terhequr slita neper oborret e shkollave,

pretending they were Richard, Ray and Kevin. Amazing.

duke bere gjasme sikur ishin Richard, Ray dhe Kevin. Fantastike.

We arrived at the South Pole. We huddled into that tent,

Arritem ne Polin e Jugut. U strukem ne ate tende,

45 below that day, I'll never forget it.

minus 45 grade ate dite, qe nuk do ta harroj kurre.

We looked at each other with these looks

E pame njeri-tjetrin me ate veshtim mosbesimi

of disbelief at what we had just completed.

qe kishim kompletuar ate qe i kishim vene synim vetes.

And I remember looking at the guys thinking,

Dhe kujtoj qe i pashe djemte duke menduar,

"What do I take from this journey?" You know? Seriously.

"Cfare marre nga ky udhetim?" E dini? Seriozisht.

That I'm this uber-endurance guy?

Qe jam ky djale me nje rezistence fantastike?

As I stand here today talking to you guys,

Tek qendroj sot ketu perpara jush,

I've been running for the grand sum of five years.

kam pese vite qe vrapoj.

And a year before that I was a pack-a-day smoker,

Dhe nje vit para saj, pija nga nje pakete cigaresh ne dite,

living a very sedentary lifestyle.

duke bere nje jete shume sedentare.

What I take from this journey, from my journeys,

Ajo c'ka marre nga ky udhetim dhe gjithe udhetimeve,

is that, in fact,

eshte qe, faktikisht,

within every fiber of my belief standing here,

me cdo qelize te trupit tim,

I know that we can make the impossible possible.

e di qe ne kemi forcen per te bere te pamunduren te mundur.

I'm learning this at 40.

Kete po e mesoj ne te 40-at e mia.

Can you imagine? Seriously, can you imagine?

E imagjinoni dot? Seriozisht, a e imagjinoni dot?

I'm learning this at 40 years of age.

Po e mesoj kete ne moshen 40 vjecare.

Imagine being 13 years old,

Imagjino te qenurit 13 vjec,

hearing those words, and believing it.

ti degjosh keto fjale, dhe ti besosh.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Faleminderit shume. Faleminderit.

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)