The tri-fold I had set up while selling cookies

In August, 2010 I asked Tracy Hawkins if I could travel to Tanzania with her organization in the summer of 2011. She told me she wasn’t planning any trips, but that if we raised enough support it would be a possibility. Thanks to dozens of extremely generous donations by friends, family, and strangers, the trip grew from a possibility to a reality.

The four youth volunteers months before the trip

Tracy’s son Trent, two more youth volunteers, Kunal and Kedar, and an adult project leader, Tom, all later joined the group. What had begun as a two-person trip became a full-fledged six-person volunteer project.

We planned to build a new shelf for filters to dry on, a new roof over the uncovered area of the workshop, and a new kiln for firing the ceramic filters. In addition we wanted to distribute filters to nearby schools as well as record our experience in pictures and video  to be used by SAFE Water Now.

We built not one, but five full shelves, with a capacity of 145-180 filters each. The roof was completed, and we started work on the new kiln, which will be able to fire around 50 filters at a time. We even sculpted nine of our own filters, and distributed many more to four different schools and nurseries. Lastly, I collected over 2500 pictures and 5 hours of video for use by SWaN and maintained this blog to record our progress.

One side of the factory: before and after

tanzaniaproject2011.shutterfly.com/pictures

Meeting our mom's at the airport, with ice cream!

Omari at the base of Mt. Meru, 5 miles up

Omari running down the mountain; a schoolboy runs with us

Me bringing it home

Omari's route involved cutting some tight corners around several buildings

We got back down before most of the others had woken up, and I ate breakfast with Tom. Once finished, I took some time to walk down to the factory alone, to get some final pictures and video. The ground still had markings from pulling the brick-maker yesterday, but the new table, new shelves, and new roof all made the factory feel much less vacant and more productive than when we first arrived.

Tom's shelf, with a plastic sheet covering the drying filters

Trent's shelf, with the filter we've been drinking from

My shelf, with a few finished filters

Kedar's shelf, with good and bad filters from the old kiln--Kim will find a way to recycle the broken ones, I'm sure

Kunal's shelf, ready to be filled with drying filters

The first few, and most difficult, layers of the kiln have been completed

The new roof over Kunal's shelf

The bricks that will soon become the new, stronger, more efficient kiln

View of the back of the factory from outside the hedge fence

When the rest of the volunteers finished breakfast we all went down to the factory together for some last minute pictures. It started to rain, adding a further hint of dreariness to our final day. Kim’s brother walked us up to Baba Kimirei’s house, up the mountain about a mile. We passed by Eliza’s school, and dozens of schoolkids gathered in front of us to see what we were doing.

A little kid dropped his papers everywhere, and Tom stopped to help

Trent and Kedar walk hesitantly by Eliza's school

Less than a minute after we walk up to the road, a huge group of kids gathers to watch us

Eliza ran through the crowd and hugged each of us, surprised to see us one last time. We said goodbye and kept walking up, past several small farms, to the path through Baba Kimirei’s property. He owns several acres of farmland, which he suggests become the home of the SAFE Water Now factory if it needs to be expanded from the smaller workshop down the hill. There’s no need to move for now, but if things go well for the organization, then it would be an option.

Tom saying goodbye to Eliza

Eliza hugging her best friend Kunal

Walking through Baba Kimirei's farm towards his house

Baba Kimirei greeted us at his house, in the middle of his large property. He showed us a gourd farm he has, from which he grows large gourds and sells them for around 20,000 shillings as containers to store liquids. He showed us his many beehives, some with stingless bees, some with stinging bees, from which he gets honey to eat and to sell. He let us try some stingless bee honey, which tasted very tangy and strong, nothing like the mild sweet honey I was used to.

Greeting Baba Kimirei at his home

Baba Kim showing Tom his gourd farm

Big hanging gourd

Two of Baba Kim's many beehives, used to make honey

We planned to walk back down to our house with Baba Kimirei, who would come to the airport with us. We saw some colobus monkeys swinging in trees in the middle of his property, with their distinctive white faces and black bodies. He complained that these monkeys eat many of his fruits, and that he sometimes has to shoot them to prevent this. We were pretty shocked by this. I guess it’s just a Tanzanian version of pest control.

Baba Kim leading us down the mountain

On the way down, some younger kids from Eliza’s school who had been let out walked home behind us, and some of the braver ones walked beside us. I gave out my hand for one to hold, and she instinctively grabbed hold as we walked down. Another kid took my other hand, without a word. When I tried to take a picture, I found that they didn’t want to let go of my hands, but I wanted to capture this moment. It was very touching, walking these children down the mountain, kids I didn’t know and had never seen, silently trusting us to protect them down the road.

Kunal: "shouldn't you be in school?"

Kedar: "are they still following us...?"

Group of kids following us after their school got out

The little girl I walked down the mountain with

A few more kids joined

Kunal and friends

When we got home, Omari had returned from town, where the Vodacom people of course ripped us off again, only giving us money for one modem. We told Omari to keep it, after all his trouble. As we finished packing up all our bags, Kim and Stella gave us all a few gifts to bring home to our families. Omari had been running everyday in the same pair of tan work-shoes, so I gave him my pair of sneakers, which I’d been running in all summer, and a cross-country Georgia state championship t-shirt. Trent left his shoes with Omari too; he’d only had his for a few weeks before the trip.

Omari giving us banners to give to our moms

Omari holding the shirt I gave him

The shoes I left behind, still very dirty from Mt. Meru

Getting our bags ready

We loaded all of our bags in an eight-seat van, and piled 10 people inside. Tom, Trent, Kunal, Kedar, me, Kim, Stella, Omari, Baba Kimirei, and a driver. For 45 minutes I sat on Kim’s lap in the backseat, which was surprisingly comfortable aside from the lack of head room.

Trent loading a filter, carefully packed in a box, that we were bringing back home

The view from Kim's lap: Kim behind me, Kunal to his right in the backseat of the van

We said our farewells outside the airport, and thanked the people who had been so welcoming and kind to us for nearly three weeks. Kim had been like a father to us: he always knew what was going on around the factory, could always find some small thing that we could do to help out, was always patient and always kind. Stella was like our mother: she would cook most of our meals with Christina, helped us improve our Swahili, calling us her “watoto,” children. Omari had been our older brother, taking us to town, protecting us from some of the shadier figures in the village at night, but mostly laughing and hanging out with us like we had been friends since childhood.

Saying farewell to Stella and Kim

Omari saying goodbye to Trent, the lion

Kedar the buffalo hugging Stella

Omari and Kunal the giraffe, saying kwaheri, goodbye

Good friends saying "until next time"

Once we walked through the glass doors, turned around and saw the family waving back at us, we really understood what the pastor had been saying last night. We had found new family across the ocean, new brothers and sisters who loved us and welcomed us from the minute we met them. This quality is what makes Tanzania unique, in my opinion. In no other place have so many people I have no relation to, have never met before, treated me like family. We all hoped that soon, as soon as we could, we would come back to our new family in Tanzania and live and work with them again.

Trying to put the sadness of the moment aside, we continued into the airport, got our boarding passes, and proceeded through security to the only waiting area in the airport. Soon, we were walking up the stairs into a jet bound for Ethiopia, and we began our journey home.

Our last few breaths of Tanzanian air...

We got up at 8:30 as usual and were down at the factory by 10. The first thing I noticed was one of our names written on each shelf: Kyle, Trent, Kunal, Kedar, Tom, and Tom again on the table he built. Omari showed us how the mortar for the bricks in the kiln was made: three different grades of dirt, some super fine sand, some normal sand, and some clay dug up from the factory were all thoroughly mixed together with water creating a thick brown homogenous mixture.

Trent and I sifted out the medium grade sand from a pile against the building, collecting the properly sized sand on a sheet of plastic, like a tarp. Meanwhile, Kunal and Omari mixed the proper amounts of fine sand and mud with water on another tarp. We combined the medium grade sand with this pile and the mixture was ready.

Kunal and me mixing the fine sand with the clay

Watering the mixture

Sifting sands

Kunal and Omari worked on laying the mortar and setting bricks for the new kiln, which was only a two-man job but required a lot of patience and time. We also discovered something very unfortunate: the bricks supporting the filters that had been firing in the old kiln had collapsed, causing some of the stacks of filters to topple over during the night. Kim, Omari, and all of the volunteers watched heartbroken as the brick door was taken down and we could see the damage. Only around 20 of the 56 filters would be usable, the rest had broken.

Kunal, Kedar and Omari laying bricks on the new kiln

Peeking into the kiln: there was supposed to be a filter directly in front of the hole, so they must have fallen

Kim worked on repairing the bottom level of the kiln, in order to begin firing a new batch tonight. It had been built around 2006 with very weak bricks and mortar. The main reason we are building this new kiln is to replace the old, unreliable one. The silver lining to this cloud is the fact that the new kiln will be ready for use in less than a week, solid and reliable.

Trent, Kunal and Omari look at the damage in the old kiln

Meanwhile, Trent and I cleaned up the rest of the factory. We moved some large piles of bricks over for the kiln, tossing the unusable bricks into an already-large pile of broken ones. There was a heavy brick-making machine lodged in the ground, so we began to dig around it in order to move it away from the newly-roofed area.

Trent haulin bricks

Digging up the brick-maker

As we finished up digging, Baba Kimirei (meaning “Father of Kimirei”), Kim’s 84 year-old father who lives up the mountain, arrived at the factory. He took one look at the brick-maker and explained that we would need some kind of rolling device in order to move it up and across the factory. As if summoned by their father’s voice, two of Baba Kimirei’s other sons working at the factory stopped what they were doing, found several equally-sized logs and propped up the machine to roll it.

Baba Kimirei explains his solution

One of the brothers, Elias, tied a rope to the front of the machine. Most people stopped what they were doing to help; even James, with a hurt arm, contributed in pulling the heavy apparatus over the logs. We would replace the log in front with the one in the back, and repeat this every few feet. The machine fell several times, but we would just re-align it and continue rolling. We finally finished after about 15 minutes of pulling, winning this tug-of-war game against a useless piece of metal.

Elias securing a rope on the machine

Using logs as makeshift wheels

Starting to pull, replacing the log in front

Tanzanian tug-of-war

The final resting place on the other side of the factory

The ground under the new roof is a few inches lower than the floor beneath the main roof, so it needs to be leveled before more shelves can be moved under it. Also, there was still a big pile of broken and unusable bricks on the middle of the ground. Elias and I, as well as the village security guard (who wanted to help out at the factory) started sorting out the half-bricks that might be useful later, and putting them in a pile off against the wall. After that Elias told us to start crushing up the remaining fragments to be used to level the ground.

Checking out the pile of broken bricks

Sorting bricks

Our village's security guard beating bricks with a pipe

Destroying the smaller bricks and saving the bigger ones

We had fun crushing the bricks with whatever we could find, and when Tom came and beckoned me to lunch I was very reluctant to leave, knowing that it would be some of the last work I’d do at the factory on our trip. We had an awesome lunch as usual and walked down to the street to get a dala-dala to take us into town.

The remains

Kedar lifting before lunch--needs to work on that form

Kunal still can't get over the loss

On the road again

We went to Vodacom and tried to get a refund for our faulty modems, and after I personally confronted the manager with the help of Kunal and Kedar he reluctantly agreed to give us most of our money back. We walked to another little store and got a few gifts for people, then walked to a little supermarket to get some snacks and chocolate. We went to one last store, a soccer one, and some random guy from the street walked in and tried to sell one of the store’s jerseys to Kunal. It was confusing but in the end the guy just left and Kunal bought it from the actual store owner.

Friendly lady at the souvenir shop

Walking to the mini-supermarket

Looking up from the road at the back of a soccer stadium

We headed home in another dala-dala and got ready for a farewell celebration they were having for us in the factory. Kim got us from the house around 7:30 and we walked down in the dark. We found Kim’s whole family waiting for us in chairs and benches they had brought: his brothers, father, uncle (the village pastor), wife, daughter (named Fortunate), nephews and nieces, etc. Kim stood up and introduced his whole family; Tom introduced his “family,” Trent, Kunal, Kedar and me.

Another crowded dala-dala ride

Kunal handing me a chicken on the way up through the village

Kim beckoning us down to the factory

Fortunate then explained the ceremony. Kim’s sister-in-law read a passage from the bible about brotherhood and harmony, and her husband, Kim’s younger brother, explained that by traveling to a new continent, a new country, and a new city, we proved that brothers do not have to be of the same race or from the same nation. We had developed a fellowship with this village, thanks to our commitment to the common mission of safe water, and he thanked us eloquently for our visit and our work in the factory.

Tom saying a few words; Baba Kimirei is in green and his younger brother is in gray

We all enjoyed a huge dinner served on the table Tom had made, and Fortunate then announced that the village children had a presentation for us. They marched in a line towards us, singing English songs they’d learned in school, saying farewell to each of us individually.

Fortunate introducing the kids

The village children clapping and singing

Dinner is served

"Donated by Tom"

After this Kim and Stella brought out five traditional Maasai robes, and put one on each of us, giving us animal nicknames. Tom is the elephant, I was the rhino, Trent, the lion, Kunal the giraffe, and Kedar the buffalo. We then brought out a big bag of toys brought by Tracy and Kunal which we distributed to the kids. I gave some of the older kids watches I had brought, and I gave Eliza sunglasses.

Maasai family

The Arusha-Atlanta Brotherhood

With all the village children

Handing toys to the kids; everybody got something they liked

Eliza showing off her new shades

It had been a long but great day, and we cleaned up and walked back up to the house, thinking about the people we’d met and wouldn’t see for so long. We hugged all the kids goodbye, because they had school to go to tomorrow, and we said goodnight and went to bed. Our flight leaves tomorrow at 12:30 from JRO.

Tom looking good in front of shelf number V with the kiln smoking beside him

Kunal wheeling in a huge stump, which we soon cut for firewood

Kunal (standing) and me laying out the mortar for the new kiln

Kedar smoothing a filter after pressing the clay

Tom sweeping up some trash

Kunal watering some mortar for the kiln

Soon we were all very hungry from our day’s hard work, and had an exceptionally huge lunch of pasta and vegetables up at the house around 2:00. We came back down an hour later, and got back to work chopping more firewood and adding another layer of bricks to the new kiln. These first few layers require every brick to be leveled, aligned, and mortared carefully, in a certain shape that will have areas for wood to burn as well as a channel for smoke to flow out of.

Kunal and Omari at lunch, with my huge plate of spaghetti in hand

The first layer of bricks laid out for the new kiln: the two channels on the sides are for firewood, the one in the middle is for smoke to leave, the section at the top is the base of the chimney

Tom sealing up the door to the kiln with mud to keep the heat in

Me smoothing a filter

Outside Kim's house in the village

Me chopping firewood

Firewood burning underneath the kiln

Trent wielding his mighty axe

Eliza gives it a shot

When plenty of wood had been chopped, and nine filters made, we started playing with the village kids as usual. They taught us a few tricky games, one where you hold onto a pole with both hands and have to bring it around your body a certain way, one where you stand behind a line and lean far enough forward to drop something in front of another line, without falling, and one where you are sort of hand-cuffed to another person with string and have to escape by moving around a certain way.

Kunal trying to bend in very uncomfortable ways

Omari arrived on a motorcycle from town, since the dala-dala drivers were still on strike. He had bought eight of the buckets that the filters fit inside, for coming distributions. Kim had some fun with the buckets messing around with the smaller kids; just look at the picture.

Omari arriving on his friend's bike with some buckets

This poor little guy started crying when Kim fully covered him in the buckets

Trent, Omari, and Kunal at the factory

I noticed that some of the kids were chewing on a thick green bamboo like plant, so I asked Omari what it was. Sugarcane, he said, and he wanted to show us where to find some, so we followed him outside the factory and across the street. A few kids were playing around a little stand, leaning against which were a few long stalks of sugarcane. Omari chopped off a few pieces with a nearby machete, but ended up buying the whole stalk for 1000 tsh (60 cents), and taught us how to peel off the outer layer with our teeth to get to the white, stringy and sweet core. We brought the extra back to the kids, who all ate it like it was a candy bar. Even the toddlers knew how to chew on the sugarcane and spit out the tough fibers when their sweetness had been sucked out.

Trent trying some sugarcane at the stand across the street

The little girl, the one who likes to watch us work at the factory, enjoying some juicy sugarcane

Kunal was recruited to help take a gas canister to be refilled at a nearby shop, so Trent and I went back up to the house for dinner (Kedar was already up writing for his blog). The power was out at home, as usual, so Trent had to postpone his long-overdue shower another day because of the lack of hot water. The last two days he’s tried to take one, but the power has gone out right as he started. We walked to the hotel, got some sodas, and updated our blogs.

Kunal wheeling a gas canister towards town with Omari and Stella

Candlelight dinner at the house: Kunal and Kedar, writing his blog

The kiln burning into the night: the filters have to bake for 10 hours, then cool slowly to keep their strength

We’re all having mixed feelings about coming home on Thursday. There’s a lot of things we look forward to back home: clean, running water, constant power, fast-food, and of course our families and friends. But there’s also so many things that we love about Tanzania: the amazing, funny, and kind people, getting to make a difference at the factory, the friendly spirit of the village, and (at least for me) the delicious, natural, and very healthy food we get to eat three times a day. The past few weeks have been incredible, even better than I imagined them, and I’m going to be very sad to leave here so soon.

Well, it’s late, and I’m getting up early tomorrow to run, so goodnight! I’ll upload my last full day’s post tomorrow, until then, lala salama, sleep well!

Filters being stacked in the kiln, ready for firing tomorrow. The kiln can hold 56 filters.

Kim laid out the base for the new kiln over the weekend

The new roof was finished over the weekend and it looks nice and shiny

Without a way to get into town for supplies our day was an uneventful one. I used it mostly to catch up with blogging at the hotel and getting some (well-deserved) rest. I spent at least four or five hours catching up on the last few days, using my daily journal as a guide for remembering the basic outline and important details of the past few days. Every night I write a page or more on the day’s activities, so even if I don’t have internet access, or even a computer, I’ll be able to quickly write up a post for that day.

Copying from my daily journal ("Day 14") onto the blog

We made the most of our rest day. I soaked my sore legs in the pool, had some soda, charged my laptop and camera, and figured out our plan for tomorrow. We have a lot of work to do: firing the existing kiln, beginning work on the new kiln, making some filters (finally!) and cleaning up around the factory.

On the way back from the hotel at night I learned that our little house near the factory is going to be occupied as soon as we leave. Leslie, Tracy’s friend from Connecticut, and her family are moving to the house to work with SAFE Water Now. They’re arriving, coincidentally and symbolically, on the same plane that we will fly out in on Thursday. It reassured me to know that someone will be picking up where our group leaves off, and that our work that the factory will be put to good use under Leslie’s full-time management.

We found Kim at the factory at 9 p.m. making filters alone, and he taught Trent and I how to prepare the clay and press the filters with the molding machine. Tomorrow we’ll make some more. We also were invited into Kim’s house later and watched some Bollywood movie dubbed over in English; it was hilarious! Now to get some sleep and get ready for a hard day tomorrow.

Kim showing us out to make filters after dark

Tom on the couch at Kim's house, where we watched "Indian Love Story," a Bollywood hit

We brought our lightly packed bags into the dining room, dressed as warmly as we could manage, as the temperature was somewhere around 40 degrees F. We ate a lot of cookies for some simple sugar, had some tea, and each received a snickers bar from our guide as a snack for the six hour journey to the summit.

Trent is ready to climb in his panda hat and warm clothes

"12:55" AM on my trusty $1 watch

We departed our campsite in the dark of night, with flashlights and walking stick in hand. At first, we walked 20 minutes of flat ground up to the base of Rhino Point, a mountain slightly taller than Little Meru. From there, we would travel along the spine and around Mt. Meru to the other side, and summit.

Walking and walking

The first three hours of hiking went pretty smoothly: we felt good and strong, not too tired, and excited about reaching the summit. We climbed Rhino Point easily, passing a few other large groups of hikers on the way. It was just Trent, Kunal and I, as well as our guide, Samuel, who carried nothing but a headlamp, not even water.

Kunal navigating around some rocks in the dead of night, the trail was marked with green lines

However, after we climbed around the spine to the other side of Meru, my head and body started feeling the effects of the altitude and lack of sleep. I slowly ate the snickers to refuel, but I had a bad headache, and the wind and cold started numbing my fingers and toes. Kunal was equally affected, while Trent was still feeling good. We kept thinking we could see the summit, but when we asked Samuel if the next huge rock was the very top, he told us no. This same thing happened for three false summits, and really started to hurt our morale. We were all determined to get to the top, and after walking so far to get here we knew that turning back was no option.

Kunal staying hydrated before the summit

Finally, after the fourth hour, at 4:00 a.m., we spotted the real peak in the distance, confirmed by Samuel. My head was feeling very fuzzy, but I kept myself hydrated, and I knew we could make it to the top. I told myself that at the top we would get to lie down and sleep, and that carried me up the last 400 meters or so, which were by far the hardest.

At last we finished that last stretch to the summit, passing the only group that remained in front of us. We celebrated by taking a few pictures before the next group arrived. It was 5:30 in the morning, and my fingers and toes felt like they were freezing off. We tried huddling for warmth, which failed miserably, and Kunal and I just wanted to get back down and sleep.

Cold but relieved, our uphill struggle is over

Lookin good on the summit

Hurrying back down, we met the sunrise half an hour after leaving the summit. It was beautiful shining against the rocks, turning the landscape from shades of gray into oranges, browns, and white. My camera died just after sunrise, but at this point I only cared about getting back to a warm bed at the campsite. For another three hours we climbed down, getting warmer and warmer, happily shedding our extra layers in the growing sunlight. By the time we reached the bottom of Rhino Point, around 8:00, we were all basically sleepwalking. Finally the green buildings revealed themselves and we marched into camp, happy to be done with the walking, for now.

View of the sun rising behind distant Mount Kilimanjaro

Kunal keeping warm as the sun rises

Kunal, me, and Trent coming back down

More exhausted than hungry, we reluctantly ate breakfast and crawled into our sleeping bags, trying to catch a few minutes of shuteye before we began our 5 hour climb back to the Arusha National Park gate at 11:00 am. We slept for maybe 10 minutes, packed our gear, and started the climb down.

Meeting Kedar back at camp

Our legs weren’t as tired as our heads still, and the worst thing about the descent was the dust that we kept kicking up and getting in our eyes, mouth, nose, and hair. Once we got past the arid upper part of the mountain and into the cooler jungle area, under the clouds, the dust stopped being a problem.

Kunal "El Bandito" Kamath covering his mouth from dust with a red bandana

Walking down some very long stairs

We ate a small lunch of chicken and french fries at the first camp, and headed down on the “shortcut” route, which was supposed to take three hours climbing up, about one and a half going down. However, we’d been walking for two full hours and still had no sight of the gate. Tired and ready to get home, we pushed on for another half-hour, finally finding ourselves on a bigger road that lead to the gate. We rested at the gate, had some cokes and chocolate, and got into the dala-dala that would take us back to Ngulelo and our home.

Coming down the mountain

What's up giraffe?

Kedar walks alone

Over the river and through the woods to Arusha Nat'l Park we go

Kunal is taken by some nearby buffalo

Finally back at the bottom of the mountain

It was a sleepy ride back, around 5:00 p.m., and when we got back to the town we were torn between cleaning up, getting on the internet, or just plain sleeping. We were greeted by the kids of the village running down the hill between houses (Eliza literally jumped into my arms). They offered to carry our heavy bags with them, and I happily let one of the boys help me, thanking him “asante sana.” When we walked the last hill back home we took off our shoes and enjoyed a great dinner prepared by Kim’s wife Stella. I must have eaten more than ten chapatis, delicious circular breads traditional to India but common in Tanzania.

Kedar's foot, my feet, and Trent's feet after taking off our socks back at home

I changed clothes and walked to the hotel for internet, staying there for a few hours updating my blog and sending emails, coming home at 12:00 a.m. I took my first shower since last Monday, six days ago, and happily got in bed for the first time in over 24 hours.

Trent on the trail with camera at the ready

We climbed on, until the air got much hotter and dryer, and you could see the thick layer of clouds below us. It was amazing to see; I had never been on solid ground so high in my life.

Above the clouds

We arrived at the second campsite around lunchtime, but failed to find any lunch ready for us. Kedar and Tom followed a bit behind Trent, Kunal and I, so we waited, hoping that when they arrived we’d get some lunch. We were unpleasantly surprised when no food came, and asked some of the campsite guides, and they said we’d have to wait longer. We did, and finally, around 2:30, we had a nice hot lunch of rice and beef.

Me at the campsite, eagerly awaiting lunch

From this second campsite there are two paths going up. One goes to Little Meru, at about 12,000 feet, in one direction, and the other to Big Meru, at 15,000 ft, in another. We would hike up to Little Meru to acclimatize to the air pressure at 3:30, and then leave bright and early tomorrow morning for the summit of Big Meru.

Kunal and Trent getting ready to climb Little Meru (in the background)

Trent, Kunal and I quickly summitted Little Meru after lunch, with Tom following, reaching the top in around 45 minutes. It was a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains, including the towering Big Meru, which intimidated us a little.

Trent climbing to the very top of Little Meru

The view from the summit of Little Meru: tomorrow we climb up to Rhino Point, the mountain in the foreground, then follow the spine of the mountain, to the right, then climb up and up to the very top of Big Meru, the highest point in the background

Kunal, Trent and I on Little Meru's summit

We climbed back down, got dinner, and prepared for an early start tomorrow. When I say early start, I mean very early. Waking-up-at-midnight early, beginning our climb at 1 am early. We were nervous but new we needed as much sleep as we could get, and got to bed at 8.

We started our journey today at 8 o’clock. We got our clothes down from the line that Christina had been drying on, had a quick breakfast, said goodbye to Omari, Tracy and Kim, and got on the dala-dala that would take us to Arusha National Park, where we’d begin our climb. We started walking through the park, carrying our bags filled with clothes, water, food, sleeping bags, etcetera. Because I packed a very extensive first aid kit before leaving, I’ve been the unofficial trip pharmacist so far, So I carried that too. My bag weighed about 10 kilos, around 22 lbs.

My clothes drying outside the house

Hugging Omari before leaving

We hiked for 5 hours, getting lunch on the way, up to the first campsite at around 5,000 ft above sea level. It was a very beautiful walk. We met some of the other members of our group, a family of Germans, an Italian couple, and a Russian-American woman climbing by herself.

Me, Kunal, and Trent being goofy

Kedar, Me, Kunal and Trent approaching the first camp

Kunal walking, with cliffs in the background

We had dinner at the camp tonight. Our rooms were small, with two bunk-beds in each, so Kunal, Kedar, Trent and I stayed in one room and Tom slept in another. Another 6 hour hike, and the summit of Little Meru, a smaller peak on the mountain, tomorrow.

Eating dinner at the first camp

Kunal and Trent playing with fire at breakfast

We had an awesome, big, and healthy breakfast as usual, got ready for the day. We had already finished building all five shelves, three with a capacity of 180 filters and two with a capacity of 136 filters, for a total of 662 filters. Before our work here, there was only enough shelf space for about 40-50 filters.

Some of the old shelves, before we arrived

We’ve taken down the smaller of the two old kilns and made space for a new one, so with the kiln that we are building next week, the larger old kiln, and the new shelf space for drying filters, the factory will be able to maximize its filter output. All this time a new roof at the factory has been being built. It will be able to accommodate the new shelves we’ve built, keeping the filters dry, which ensures that the clay fires strong and durable.

The supplies for the kiln hadn’t arrived yet, so we walked to the hotel to keep up with our blogs, and on the way there Kunal and I played a game called “rede” with the children by the factory. It’s similar to Monkey in the Middle, but the people on the outside try to hit the person on the inside with the ball.

Tom treated us to an awesome dinner at the hotel, while we used their internet to keep up with family and our blogs. It felt great to have a little bit of Americanized food again, I had some pasta carbonera for around $6. We prepared our bags for beginning our three-day hike of Mt. Meru tomorrow.

Dinner at the hotel