Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Random Pictures of the last 2 months

More pictures from Safari Pictures







It was so cold on safari we literally had to wear our sleeping bags to dinner.








Cheka School


      
This is Franky. Of the 34 students we had tested for HIV, Franky is the only one positive

Porridge time!  The kids say the cutest pray each day before they are allowed to eat.

Faraja (in the middle).  I am so happy for her she got sponsored and will be attending a proper school starting in April but I will miss her so much at Cheka!

Trying to make the classroom colorful and decorative

This is Ally,  I don't know who has more fun with the balloons, me or the kids?

Franky again!  He is always doing the silliest things with his mouth.
Robson is ready for March Madness! 



I am teaching the kids about whether so I had them make snowflakes (something none of them have probably seen before).  The crazy part was that none of them had ever seen scissors before!  Fun!   


A proper toilet!  Can you even imagine? This is part of our new classroom.  We have come a long way from the kids just using the yard.




This is Debbie (who I teach with) and Jeff (who build us our new classroom) playing in the new sandbox Jeff build for the kids.  We just started using out new classroom this week and are having a party next Friday to celebrate with all the kids and families around the village.


KILI TIME AGAIN!!!!

View of the summit from camp













These are balls of hail that pelted us in the face



Summit morning






The House
 St. Patrick's Day
30 mzungus (white people) decked out head to toe in green.  We were quiet a spectacle.


Me and Molly

We frequently find hens and chickens entering our bed room



Passing time at the volunteer house takes some creative thinking.  Arika finally got her Valentines day package a month and a half late.  We had a competition to see who could create the best sentence using one of each heart. 



Wednesday, March 16, 2011

New Backpacks (another one of my favorite things)

Faraja went bonkers for her new bag!


It was so cute!  Some of the bags were bigger than them!

I climbed Kilimanjaro!!!!!

Day 1 of 6

Like how I color coordinated with the tent?

Day 2. A few more layers

Mt. Meru in the background

Clouds would roll in out of no where and the temperature would drop 20 degrees instantly.  We would go through all 4 seasons in one day (actually in one hour).  It was constantly layer on, layer off, layer on....

Beautiful sunsets



Poor nose!

Crazy porters!  Carried all our stuff (including 6 days worth of food, water, and tents) on their heads and still would run past us every day

We had quite a bit of rain, hail, and snow

No I'm not pregnant (although I have gained 9 pounds)!  It was so cold nothing would dry so I would put all my wet cloths (unfortunately I borrowed someones bag that was not water proof) on me or in my sleeping bag over night to dry



Rambo style!  Gotta love the outfit!

Porters would stack rocks so others would know what trail to follow.  This was my contribution.

Summit night.... We slept for 4 hours and then headed for the top at midnight.  We hiked up this for 7 hours and made it to Stella point (about 45 mins from the summit) by sunrise

Sunrise from Stella Point


Standing at 5,895 meters or 19,341 feet.  Tallest free standing mountain in the world and highest point in Africa!

My guide Clemence


Standing on top of the world.  I have on ten layers up top and 5 pairs of pants for summit night.




Mel and I celebrating with a Kilimanjaro after 15 hours of hiking!

It took all these guys to get 4 of us up the mountain.  We had a guide, assistant guide, cook, and 3 porters per person.

Summit on a clear day


Receiving my certificate

Clemence and Rich