I arrived at Detroit Metro, a little before 11am—a mere 7 hours before the big game between MSU and UConn. My father was picking me up at the airport so I could have lunch with him and my mother. The only obstacle between me and his car was immigration. The women who looked at my [...]
The Long Journey Home
I arrived at the Nairobi Airport three hours early. There was no way I was going to miss my flight. I normally don't care about flights and often get to the airport with enough time to check in and board the flight but this flight was different. A group of my college [...]
The Surprise Trip Home
My last day in Moshi was a Saturday night and a number of people from the hostel were heading out to one of the local clubs. It was a fun night and while we were dancing the night away, my alma mater was playing in the NCAA Basketball Tournament, one game away [...]
Kili Kids—A Tough Good Bye
I enjoyed my two weeks volunteering with Kili Kids. I thought the organization had a number of good things working for them. They have a great system with an on-site teacher. At the same time, like any other nonprofit, they have their struggles. I was working with one of their [...]
Kili Kids is Expanding
Based on their current success, the local board and the international fund-raising board has decided to expand the services of Kili Kids. The overall goal is to eventually work with 100 kids. They are currently at 24 kids and are being prudent not to grow too fast. They view their expansion goals [...]
It is interesting the way life allows things to happen for a reason. I received an e-mail a number of months ago from Laurie Loughridge-Wargo, a nonprofit fund raiser from the Detroit area. She had been having lunch with one of my former colleagues and they told her to look up my blog. Laurie had done [...]
Dear Gentle Reader:
It has been one of the crazier weeks of the past fifteen months so you haven't seen a post from me in close to a week. I am currently in Amman, Jordan and will be running the Dead Sea Half Marathon tomorrow (Friday) morning. I will begin to start blogging this weekend so [...]
"…Compie turned his head and grinned and pointed and there, ahead, all he could see, as wide as all the world, great, high, and unbelievably white in the sun, was the square top of Kilimanjaro. And then he knew that there was where he was going." The Snows of Kilimanjaro–Ernest Hemingway.Day Three- "And then there [...]
Day 1- A Slow BeginningOur group consisted of the guide, an assistant guide, two porters and Akash and myself. We took a taxi van from Moshi to the National Park Enterence for the Marangu Route. Since I booked the trip at the last minute, I was hoping to pay my National Park fees at [...]
After my fun in the sun in Zanzibar, I took a flight to Moshi, Tanzania. I needed to book my tour for the hike to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. I had seven days available to do the hike before I needed to report to my next volunteer assignment. People I had met over [...]
