Sunday, July 13, 2014

Microlending and Kilimanjaro





After a long and tiring travel process, we arrived at Kilimanjaro airport at around 1:30 in the morning. After we had obtained our visas we were greeted by our country coordinator, Tim, and our instructor from World Leadership School, Susan. Within seconds we were playing team building games outside of the airport in the middle of the night.   We then took a bus to Kilimanjaro Lodge, which is where we would be staying the first few days. 
            At 11 A.M. we were greeted by a great brunch, courtesy of the chefs and staff at the lodge.  Shortly after we did some group building exercises with Tim and Susan, that would help us prepare for the events in the following hours. After our mellow drive through the beautiful scenery in Tanzania, we arrived at a small village, where we met Miriam, or Mama Erik. She was perfect example of an independent leader. She spoke to us about how she created a micro lending organization within her community. Essentially, she created a little bank in which women from within the village could make small deposits of their money. Because there was no easy access to a bank nearby, villagers weren’t used to saving money for their own personal lives, spending most of their money on necessities like food, water, and clothing. But with this new system Miriam provided, all of the savings from the women together made it possible to make loans to purchase a far more expensive item than any one woman could have ever gotten otherwise, like a sewing machine, or a bicycle, which could be used to make more income. Over the course of a decade Miriam completely changed the way this little village operated for the better.


            The next day we packed our day bags, gathered on the bus and traveled to Mt. Kilimanjaro.   Before we began to travel up the mountain we stopped at the travel head where we played games and registered ourselves for the hike.  After a brief drive further up the mountain we arrived at a spot where we would then travel on foot up the mountain.  It was a dry and rugged terrain; many of the plants were cactus like.  We hiked all the way up to the Simba River, which was 9000 feet above sea level, and had lunch. As we were eating a cloud passed over us and we surrounded by mist.  It was a very peaceful and calming experience.  Lunch ended and we cleaned up our mess and then began our descent back to our starting point and back to the lodge.
- Jackson & Eugene

Note from Mr. Clarke:  I’m sorry about the slow start to the blog; we’ve been unable to get an adequate internet signal. Now that we’re at Banjika, we’ll work to get posts up regularly. Thanks for your patience. Everyone is healthy and having a terrific time! Tomorrow Jules and Kat will post about meeting their counterparts at the school.