Climb Kilimanjaro for Charity - Amani Kids home Tanzania

Charity Kilimanjaro climb for kids

For a webcam update click here.

***update*** September 2007

A new team of Spannerworkers are boldly going where I have before in a renewed push to raise money for the kids at Amani Kids Home, and for the experience of a lifetime.

Read all about their plans and dig deep and sponsor them through their dedicated website - http://www.thekiliclimb.co.uk/

September 2005

Well here I am back at my desk again! What a trip! What we have seen! Such emotional memories! Such dreams! What firm bonds - what distant friends. What a life we lead - what hardships we've learned. Our experiences are slowly weaving into the fabric of our existences.

We've all found the experienced of our trip hard to fathom. We witnessed such contrasts between the hardness of the mountain climb and the way we worked together to conquer it's summit; the luxury of our five star hotel and the simple lifestyles of the Tanzania people; the horrors experience by the orphans at Amani and our desk based existence at home.

As a group we've spent several occasions trying to piece together the memories eroded by high altitude! We cling to eachother like the rocks of the mountain itself to maintain the memories of such an experience. We feel like we've had such a vivid dream with each of us playing such a key role in it's twisting plot!

Spannerworks Kilimanjaro Amani Kids crew

And now we're back at our desks trying to work out what it all means! There's no doubt we all agree that the kids have made a huge impact on us. Our 2 million shillings raised so far should go some way to help them build their new home. We all have desires to go back out to Tanzania and see the new home completed. Some of us are more fortunate (and more single) than others and are vowing to work at the home at some time.

Tanzania is a beautiful place. The people so soft and gentle. Our porters showed us this much. And that they are a strong race.

Thankyou to those of us that have sponsored us. Sponsorship continues in earnest - and if you haven't yet it's not too late to sponsor us, here.

the sahara beneath us	the sahara beneath us	Nairobi skyscapes	Nairobi skyscapes	packing the bus the transfer
Felix loads the roof	Nairobi civilian transport	a bashed bus	en route	the Nairobi - Arusha road
tanzania here we come	markets en route	border towns	pit stop	beautiful bourgainvillea
it's out there somewhere	plane trees	endless skylines	endless roads	morale is high on board
as is the odd doze	our hotel in Moshi!	pool hacky sack!	the view to Kili	lurking in the clouds
intrepid adventureres!	frangipani	contrasting luxury	Kili awaits

DAY ONE - Machame Gate to Machame Camp (1800m to 3100m)
getting set at the hotel	innocent smiles en route	the foothills are lush	the roads disintegrate	signing our lives away
ready at Machame Gate	...and they're off	to a slow start	jungle mayhem	impatiens Kilimanjari
here come the clouds	the cloud forest	beautiful jungle	eery trees	lush greens
cool streams	huge delphiniums	Maddy tests the water	Charlotte dives in!	out of the rain forest
first view of the summit	ominous	foreboding	our illustrious leader!	the team after day one
Machame camp night one	Kibo beckons	the sunset	quick sun down	night time fun
cold nights...	...and clear skies

DAY TWO - Machame Camp to Shira New Camp (3100m to 3850m)
the view back down	well above the clouds	beautiful morning	photo opp	what a view!
porters on the path	here come the clouds	Laurence on the trail	tents waiting at Shira	our crew
an afternoon stroll	Shira Plateau	awesome views	me and Laurence	pale and proud
volcanic plateau	hacky sack with Hamis	African stylee	view from the tent	amazing sunset

positively volcanic	silhouetted porters	sun catches the peak	pinkening	last light

DAY THREE - Shira New Camp to Barranco Camp (3850m to 3900m)
a frosty start	the last of the greenery	pause for a pee!	moonscapes	the Lava Tower looms
me again	Raymond Richards	Maddy on the Tower	view West	swirling cloud
Godenough the guide	view to the rucksacks	and on again	back to Lava Tower	and on again
down to Barranco camp

DAY FOUR - Barranco Camp to Karranga Valley (3900m to 3900m)
frozen washing water	in the shadow of Kibo	the path up the wall	porters dot the path	frozen streams
Senecia line the valley	atop the Barranco wall	an afternoon stroll	puffa boy	nearly on top of the world
Kibo at sun down	beautiful night skies

DAY FIVE - Karranga Valley to Barafu Huts (3900m to 4600m)
high above the clouds	weiry climbers	awesome views	Plum at Barafu	chilling in the tents
view across The Sadlle	The Saddle at dusk	foreboding landscape

DAY SIX - Barafu Huts to Uhuru Peak and down to Mweka Camp (4600m to 5895m and down to 3100m)
first light on summit day	view across Mawenzi	view back down the trail	Mawenzi rises	Rebmann glacier appears
last push to the rim	Plum heads for Uhuru	Laurence nears the peak	the summit!!	Ray passes out!
hacky on top of the world	we all made it!	the crater	glaciers abound	...and creak
around the rim	blinding light	Saddle from the summit	glaciers and clouds	our descent back to camp
awesome!

DAY SEVEN - Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate (3100m to 1900m) and back to Moshi
our porters await tips	a special morning	Ray dishes it out	eager faces	Tom, Philip & Godenough
back through rainforest	here comes Plum	lushous greens	beautiful vistas	melting trees
the team returns	view of Moshi	Mweka Gate at last!	WE MADE IT!	relief all round!
			stark contrasts

DAY EIGHT - Amani Kids field day
the luxury of the hotel			fresh faced	visiting the kids home
a humbling experience	such basic facilities	Kanuti wears my shades	another new friend	the sports day starts
acrobatics all round	time for a break	soda for all!	momentary tranquility	the fun starts again
lots of posing time	all involved	what's next?	Charlotte's friends	presentations and thanks
the crowd assembles	aren't we great	Ray, Sejal & Layla	more fun and games	so much energy!
eager waiting	...	...	'Amani' watches on	Plum chances her luck
too late!	Ray & Arj of the jungle	water bombs	Spannerworks crew	let the posing commence

DAY EIGHT


		my gold certificate!

Apologies to those of you who were expecting to see the live stream from my PDA. There were 2 reasons that this didn't work, both of which are O2's fault! Firstly although I eventually managed to find out that O2 provide roaming GPRS in Tanzania via Vodacom they do not automatically re-route data but you have to retrieve the GPRS log in details from Vodacom yourself and you need to be a Vodacom user to do this! So no cigar there... The second point was that none of my charging options worked. The hand charger and the 2 solar chargers I bought were not compatible with the XDA IIs, so even if I managed to get the GPRS working there was no way of maintaining a charge to the PDA. Once again apologies for assuming that O2 had stepped so fully into the 21st century!

March 2005

Call me mad but I'm on board for a charity climb of Kilimanjaro for a Tanzanian childrens home - Amani Home for Street Children. I'm doing it with other members of the Spannerworks team with whom we have afiliations with the childrens home thanks to our MD Arjo and his wife who originates from tanzania.

The route we are ude to take is the Machame Route, 'one of the most beautiful and less-utilised routes up the mountain'... it still looks pretty hardcore to me!

We've had a fitness test and we all fall into different health categories at this stage! I was amazed to see that my cycling to work has stood me in good cardiovascular fitness. My high blood pressure my be an issue for which i need to seek further medical advice (although I think I have persuaded by good friend Doctor Duckitt to come with us!!)

Some of the views look spectacular... here are some of the photos I have found with links to appropriate sites:

Even more spectacular are some of the journals that people have written describing their experience of the trip... The journal here is one of the best i have read: http://mysite.verizon.net/grfiv/Personal/

"...fewer than 50% of those who attempt the climb actually make it to the summit..."

"...The stars were bright and in fantastic profusion. I need to research this more because Orion was not what I expected to see south of the equator, but see him I did, and beautifully displayed against a Milky Way as prominent as I have ever seen it, aside from the deck of a boat at sea..."

"...'Weary' is a condition of the whole body and the mind. It is not directly related to muscle fatigue and, in fact, my muscles didn't hurt in the least. But crawling into my sleeping bag was all I could accomplish after dinner..."

"...THEN we turned the corner over the ridgeline to the right and WHAM! Out across the huge, wide expanse of the Shira Plateau loomed snow-capped Kibo. A vast, broad, fabulous vista. This is one of the reasons we came here - you simply can't get anything like this staying at home, folks. Ya gotta get outdoors and pay your dues..."

MY FUNDRAISING TARGET: £2000

So far I have raised £900

About our charity: Amani Kids Home

Amani Children's Home is dedicated to the protection of Tanzania’s most vulnerable population: street-children and AIDS orphans.

Since its founding by local Tanzanians in 2001, Amani Children's Home has rescued over 150 children from the perils of life on the streets, where children face a high risk of HIV transmission and malnutrition.

Just £80 will send one Amani child to school for an entire year - including school fees, uniform, lunch, after-school extra help and supplies

My personal message:

Thank you very much for visiting my Amani Kids Home fundraising page.

I'll be completing the Kilimanjaro Climb in aid of this very worthwhile cause. Every extra pound you feel able to pledge will go a long way to providing additional comfort and much needed support to those very vulnerable Tanzanian children.

Donating through this site is simple and fast and goes straight into my own Paypal account. Please note that you will need to sign up via a very simple web form to Paypal if you do not already have an account. Alternatively you can fill in the form below to make your pledge.

So please sponsor me now! and remember.... the more you pledge the more you help!

The kids, the carers at Amani Childrens Home and I, thank YOU for your support.

Display Name	Date	Type	Amount	Comment
C & R Sheridan	04/06/2005	Donation	£50.00	Good luck Tim, see you at the top!
R Bellinghall	04/06/2005	Donation	£5.00
J & M Keck	04/06/2005	Donation	£25.00