Fun in the classroom with students at Katuuso Primary School.
Hi, My name's Claudia. I recently came back from hiking Mt Kilimanjaro with School for Life, and from visiting their schools in Uganda. Scroll down to find out all about my amazing experience Summiting for School for Life…
Part one: the hike
Our hiking team consisted of 4 of us from Australia and 17 supporting us from Tanzania (we were lucky to have such a large support team, more about the difference they made later). We first assembled in Moshi, a town near to foot of Mount Kilimanjaro. It’s a bustling town of 300,000 people, a hub for East African arts and crafts, and very green and lush - being close to the equator. We stayed at the hotel for one night, before beginning the trek the next day.
Arriving with my fellow travellers ready for our big adventure.
The hike started gently. After picking up some extra lollies and snacks in town, we drove out to the national park (1.5 hours away), had burgers and some cold fries for lunch, and then got out our trekking poles and began.
For the first 3 days, the route ascended gradually, gaining between 400m and 1000m in altitude a day. We passed through a rain forest, abundant with waterfalls, moss-bearded trees, and the occasional monkey sighting. There was the occasional clamber over a steep ridge but otherwise the terrain was quite flat - a great opportunity to take in the stunning views of Kenya below.
The very start of our trek through the stunning landscapes surrounding Kilimanjaro.
It wasn’t until the fourth day (around 4500m), that we encountered a snow storm. We were sitting down to eat our lunch, when a few flecks of snow soon turned to hail. Fortunately, we weren't far from the campsite, and none of us got too sick.
Trekking through heavy snow on our way up to the summit.
Day 5 soon came around - summit day! After the previous day's debacle, we clad ourselves in every layer of clothing we had, and then started climbing at 5am through the dark.
The route was quite a bit steeper than the days before, including a short stretch akin to rock climbing. We were met with another snow storm so lunch was cut short, as we hurriedly lapped up piles of glucose powder.
When we finally got to the top at around 3pm, and the post marking the highest point emerged out of the thick cloud of snow haze surrounding us - we were besides ourselves with elation! We took our pictures, videos, and after about 20 minutes we were ready to descend.
We made it! Our elated team at the summit of Kilimanjaro.
A big thank you must go out to our trekking crew, who all had an enormous role in helping us to make it to the top of mountain. On our trek, we were accompanied by a chef who cooked us delicious meals, a waiter who brought tea and coffee to our tents for the wake-up call, a camp master who ran ahead each day to secure flat ground to pitch our tents, and a toilet master who carried up a port-a-loo.
“When we finally got to the top around 3pm, and the post marking the highest t point emerged out of the thick cloud of snow haze surrounding us - we were beside ourselves with elation!”
Part two: visiting the schools
School for Life’s schools are in rural Uganda, a 45 minute drive out from the capital city of Kampala. The schools span pre-school to high school, educating over 1000 students. On the first day, I visited the Katuuso primary school. After a tour of the campus, I helped out with the Early Childhood Development class, meeting the students, and at lunch time, with dishing up the plates of beans and steamed plantain.
The students at Katuuso Primary welcomed me with this gorgeous sign.
In the afternoon, I went to a teachers' professional development session. Through School for Life, the teachers had recently partaken in a training course in Kampala, and set up an initiative to pass on the training to teachers from schools in the surrounding area. The next day, at School for Life’s other campus, Mbazzi, I also had a chance to help make a brick as part of the construction project for a boarding house.
It was inspiring to see the impact that School for Life is making, and so much fun to hike the mountain. Thank you for reading about it here - I really recommend taking a journey with School for Life!
Post written by our amazing supporter and guest blogger, Claudia.
