Our account written up by the intrepid Maherunesa – our video is still forthcoming!
On the 10th September 2010, we plucky Khandaker sisters set off to Tanzania with the brilliant news that awesome Arohon supporters smashed the £5000 target to build the women and girl’s centre in rural Bangladesh! We were a mix of nerves and excitement, as you’d expect, but so very determined to conquer the 19,330ft mountain to convince you to support Arohon even further! Subsequently, on the 12th September, team Arohon were off, laughing our way up the first 1207 metres of the mountain…well we tried laughing all the way but the altitude admittedly made us a little short of breath *wheeze*.
So, yes, as we ascended further up the mountain our conversations slowly became more delirious, our heads a little lighter and breathing a bit more erratic – but there was no way we’d forget why we were putting ourselves through the trials of Africa’s tallest mountain! In fact regular updates from home about Arohon’s increasing donations helped us to keep going, so thanks guys!
Of course, it wasn’t all bad up the mountain. On the very first day we’d already broken through the clouds, and as we went higher and higher, the views only got more beautiful. By day two of the big climb we could see Mount Meru to the west, poking its head through the soft white clouds, whilst by evening we camped in the shadow of the looming mighty Kibo crater.
As our trek continued, we’d passed a variety of ever changing landscapes and microclimates, from lush forests to moon like craters – Kilimanjaro had it all! There was even a bizarre concentrated collection of exotic plants and waterfalls amongst the overall barren landscapes of the higher altitudes. Every night we had the fortune of seeing billions of stars scattered across the clear African night sky.
After 4 days of trekking, the biggest challenge came upon team Arohon – summit day. How can we describe this day? Gruelling doesn’t even cover it!! We set off at midnight amongst a trail of headlights in the bitter cold and inhospitable darkness, let’s just say team Arohon had a seriously hard time with the altitude, with Young Wheezy (Mitu) having trouble catching her breath and I was zoned out, not really being able to identify any of the friends I made on the trip, nor could I really keep my head up! Yes, team Arohon got caught in pretty dire circumstances on the final 1366m of Kilimanjaro, despite turning into “ragdolls” as one of our expedition leaders put, we weren’t giving up!
A few hours of stumbling up the dark mountain continued, until the Tanzanian sun started creeping up in the distance, casting a magnificent amber glow over the savannah (of course being as zoned out as I was, other people had to force my head to see the sunrise, but even I could see how beautiful it was). As the sky was being painted purple we dragged our feet up to Stella Point to take in the glorious landscape…for 5 minutes anyway, then we pushed ourselves to carry on to the icy heights of Uhuru Peak, one final hour away. Despite our bodies being completely drained, we refused to let our enthusiasm die down, whilst being surrounded by colossal ivory glaciers in the burning sun our wonderful guides sang us a song and helped us sway our way to the peak. Things got a little emotional as we finally saw the infamous sign, after months of planning, team Arohon finally touched the roof of Africa!!
The big climb was the toughest physical challenge of our lives, but we persevered and made it to the top of Kilimanjaro! No doubt we were fuelled throughout the arduous ascent by our determination to create a real, tangible change to the lives of girls and women in rural Bangladesh through Arohon and we couldn’t be happier that you’ve helped us to break our £5000 target so we can finally build this much needed centre!
As this is an ongoing project, don’t forget you can still donate to Arohon, and help out with a much tougher, but by no means impossible climb, the climb out of poverty!
