Monday, October 18, 2010

Some Pictures











Mountain Climb!

10/17
It has been one week since I climbed the mountain. I posted pictures on of the climb on facebook, I hope you can check them out. I have been looking at this mountain for two months now knowing that the day willl come when I climb it. I got a ohone call from another volunteer saying a few people wanted to come in and climb. I got everything organized and then two days before we were supossed to climb I get a call from our guide. He tells me to look at the mountain. This is early in the morning so I don't expect anything of it. I walk outside and there are large cluds of smoke rising from the mountain. He tells me it caught fire this morning and we are not going to be able to climb. The fire is exactly where our path up the mountain is. I have a few people coming in from two days of travel just to climb the mountain, so my heart sinks. I talk with him for a bit and we decide to wait. He climbs the mountain the next day with a group of villagers to see if they could help stop the fire. When he comes back down he tells us the place where we climb the fire is already out. It has been burned so there is no way it can catch back on fire. We are back in! THis is about 12 hours before we would have to wake up to start the climb. The six of us that are planning on climbing are very excited. Not thinking too much of how hard the climb is going to be the next day we grab a few beers. When the alarm goes off at 4:45am I am shocked. We are running around the house grabbing our boiled eggs, PB&J sandwiches lots of water, and we are out the door by 5:15.
The climb begins: By this I mean we have a 8km walk just to the base of the mountain. Earlier this morning I realized my i-pod had no battery, so I would be climbing the mountain to the sound of my mind. (If you know me that can be a scary thing) So we begin the hike to the base of the mountain. The sun is rising over the hills and just looks beautiful. There is some excited chatter between us, but I think we were still all waking up. When we reached the base of the mountain and looked up it took my breath away. I guess from farther away it really does not look that big, but it is! It was awesome to walk from dry hills into an almost jungle. The hike felt like a hike in a jungle, except it was uphill. We were in heavy trees for about an hour which was beautiful all in itself.We finally reached the spot where the fire was earlier in the week, and it was complete devestation. It was sad to see everything burned down, but also quite a site to see only a day after a fir raged across the mountain. I think in some of the pictures you can see the smoke from the fire on a different part of the mountain. The hike continued, with me begining to be exhausted. Then we reached the actual climb. This part felt almost like rock climbing/hiking. There were parts where you had to pull yourself up over rocks, and vertical ground. It was tough especially after already hiking awhile. I have never really hiked before so I begin to fall back. After about two hours of complete hell, I think I have reached the top, but no one is around. I call the guide and he tells me I have reached the false peak.... This is the peak I see everyday from my house. The one that I said I would reach and be done. The peak that I knew I could reach. He says that there are two higher peaks one is an hour hike and the other is the highest is another two hours one way onto that. I decide with another girl that we will reach the second highest peak. After lots of rest, sweat, water, and hardboiled eggs we reach our goal. The other four had continued on to go to the main peak. I instead eat my PB&J sandwiches and take a nap on top of the mountain.
I feel accomplished for climbing what I did. It was alot more difficult than expected, but I think most people would not have a problem climbing it. Some advice for anyone lookng to do some mountain climbing in the future, dont drink the night before, ask around to figure out how hard the climb is going to be, bring lots of water and more food than you ever expect yourself to eat, charge your i-pod, and keep reminding yourself that this is fun, and you are almost there.
I hope you all enjoyed my mountain climbing story. It was such a beautiful experience and I plan on doing it again. Right now in my village, not much has changed. I am begining to write my analysis of the village. I have been meeting with various heads of the departments to ask questions and really figure out my village a little better.
I love and miss you all so much. Keep the emails and questions coming
Justin

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

October 5th

Happy Birthday Theresa! I love you!
I just got back from a trip to my banking town. As I talked about in my last blog nine volunteers were hosting a girls empowerment seminar. The seminar was five days long, but I made it in for the last one. It was cool to see 50 girls coming together from around the region to discuss the same issues. The learned everything about basic sanitary needs for girls to having open discussions. They also had presentations on goal setting and family planning. I only saw a few hours of the confrence, but from the smiles on the other volunteers and the girls faces I could tell it was a complete success. While I was there I discussed putting on a guys confrence in March. We want to reach boys who are at the age of going onto secondary school. This will reach the kids who might not have the oppurtunity for information like this in the future. I am really excited to see how that works out.
This up coming weekend we are climbing the mountain. If I have emailed any of you in the past week its all I can talk about. I am so excited to see how hard it actually is, and how beautiful the area looks from that high up. The mountain is a day climb/hike so we are able to return home that same day. There is going to be about 8 volunteers in total climbing, so we will be safe mom ;).
Some other issues I have been dealing with right now is writing my report on the town. I have been in contact with a few people in high positions to discuss statistics, but this is going to be harder than originally thought. I am trying to set up a meeting with a widows group to see how it is run, and ask them some questions. I also am trying to get in contact with the person who is running the AIDS/HIV education for the area to see what is set up, and what needs assistance. I am still trying to get my foot in the door at the secondary school, but right now is nation testing for the graduating class, so they are busy for the next few weeks. Our next training for all of the new peacecorps volunteers in my class is Dec 4th-17th. It is going to be in Morogoro town. I have heard nothing but wonderful things about that part of the country. At this training we will all be presenting our reports. We also will have some education on AIDS and writing grants and of course some language touch-ups. It is going to be so nice to see everyone, and hear all the wonderful stories.
As of now I don't have plans for Christmas or New Years. I know that the missionaries are trying to have a Thanksgiving dinner for all of the Peacecorps volunteers in the region, which will be so nice. Originally before everyone left for their sites we talked about traveling somewhere after IST to celebrate Christmas and New Years together. I know something will work out.
I have still be running. I am still trying to work off all the weight that I gained from homestay. I have been trying to run a different way everytime I go. This gives me the oppurtunity to see more of the area and it also gives me the oppurtunity to meet more people if I get tired and need to walk. In Feburary there is a 5k/(1/2)marathon/marathon at the base of Killimanjaro. That is the largest mountain in Africa. I have my eyes set on running the (1/2) marathon, but we will see how my feet hold up. It is a big get together for alot of peacecorps volunteers to run or watch.
I think that is about it right now... keep emailing me and keeping me in your thoughts and prayers. If there is anything that you want to know about my daily life or anything about the region dont be afraid to ask. I am jut kind of writing whatever comes to mind at that point, so if you ask questions these might be a little more focused.
Love you all,
Justin
P.S. Shout out to Kelsey Kloberdanz for the package thanks a million!