I got the opportunity to climb Kilimanjaro through my former employer (USLI). The company had a relationship with a charity, Kujali International, that is based in Tanzania. The charity’s purpose is to provide low income children (many are homeless or orphans) with opportunities to further their education beyond grade school. Most children do not have the opportunity to get any education beyond 8th grade. Every year Kujali raises money for its cause by offering the opportunity to climb Kilimanjaro. For a $10,000 donation, one person received a trip to visit the charity, meet the children and volunteer their time and climb Kilimanjaro. My former employer made a donation that allowed for 10 people to have this amazing opportunity. I was fortunate enough to be chosen as one participant along with 6 other co-workers and three of our customers. We spent 4 days with the charity and learning the local culture. We then took the 7 climb of Kilimanjaro. Five and a half days to the summit, and a day and a half back down. It was an absolutely incredible, once in a lifetime experience. It was 90 degrees and humid on day one of the climb, and -10 at the summit, an incredibly drastic change. Our summit climb was an 8 hour climb through the night in sub-zero weather, we arrived at the rooftop of Africa just in time to watch the sun rise. It was amazing.”
Here are the beautiful photos that we framed for Nate. What a great way to always remember such an life changing experience!
