Walking the Walk on Kilimanjaro: Tupo Pamoja: Why?

Hey - it's me, Tait, the crazy Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania, organizing this fundraising climb up Mt.Kilimanjaro, a dream I've had since 2004. Perhaps you're wondering WHY we're doing this? Here goes...

Currently a third-year Peace Corps HIV/AIDS outreach volunteer in Tanzania, I am working at an orphan center called Tumaini (meaning "Hope" in Swahili). This center specializes in vocational training for over 60 orphaned and vulnerable children in order to make them self-reliant. Even though this school is in sight of the majestic Mt. Meru and Kilimanjaro, most of my students have never climbed them. Charged as a teacher of life skills, I hope to implement an extracurricular activity for these students: a climb up neighboring Mt. Kilimanjaro this August 2008.

My desire is to lead a handful of these orphaned youth, my students, along with six friends from home, up Kilimanjaro as an exercise in empowerment and leadership. My dream is for these kids to experience their own mountain, their own environment, first-hand. Experiencing - and hopefully ascending - Kilimanjaro's 19,340 feet and five diverse climactic zones, ranging from equatorial to arctic, should be an opportunity not only available to tourists; Tanzanian students also deserve the chance to experience the splendor of their country that tourists access everyday. Furthermore, my friends and I will be able to learn about the wonders of Tanzania from Tumaini's students and from local guides. We will also share with them American culture, providing cultural exchange.

Therefore, we are all raising funds in order to support seven of my current students, orphans, who have lost one or both parents due to the AIDS virus, to climb with us. The hope is to support my students to join us up the mountain, as well as to provide them with the proper gear to do so, especially hiking boots. In order to achieve this goal, we aspire to each raise $2,000 USD as well to collect gear donations. All of the money we raise will go to support my students and friends to climb together, with any remaining money going directly to the Tumaini Center of Global Alliance for Africa, an American-based NGO (to learn more about this centers' work, go to: www.globalallianceafrica.org and click on "Programs", then "Orphan and Youth Initiatives" and then "Tumaini Vocational Training Center").

Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest free standing mountain in the world, and summiting this 19,480 feet mountain with local guides is the opportunity of a lifetime. After this climb, my friends will also have the opportunity to visit and maybe teach a lesson or two at my school. Please assist us in this endeavor to help empower the children of Tumaini. For your convenience, we have established a Paypal account. Please make payments directly there (link on top right of this page).

Your support, as well as that of any of your friends who might be interested in endorsing our endeavor, would be greatly appreciated. I look forward to sharing this extraordinary experience with you upon our return.

Thank you in advance. Tupo pamoja ("We are together")!
Tait

I was blessed to have the opportunity to climb the great mountain called Kili back in November 2006 with my Aunt, Uncle and friends. Here's a shot from my first summit of the magnificent mountain with new friends, our guides Seky and gang, holding the Tanzanian flag.

What a surreal, indescribable feeling it was to reach the top, called Uhuru Peak, at 19,340 feet! Even more lasting is the relationships built and memories - singing, for instance, the "Hokey Pokey" and other local songs with our guides and porters around the camp sites and our talks over meals shared.