Second Adventure: Hiking to Kilimanjaro...With a Few Bumps In-Between

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature. Life is either a grand adventure or nothing"                               

-                                                                                                                                         

          Helen Keller

Who knew Hellen Keller had such great quotes? To be direct, she completely summarizes my Saturday spent here in Tanzania. Until Saturday, my trip was easy going and not too stressful. People have been very nice, I felt secure with my surroundings, and I have not worried too much. However, Saturday presented a different story. Before I tell you all about my adventure, I would like to apologize to my mother for not giving her the complete details of my weekend---Mom, I really did not want to worry you, I’m sorry.  Where do I even begin…..

Its 7am. It is raining outside. I am freezing, yet still going hiking. Today we planned to hike to the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro with our friends Baraca and Tosh. And yes, I cant believe I am hiking once again. As I get dressed I make sure to not put on my stupid Keds. Thankfully my friend let me borrow her tennis shoes to help me not slip again. Before leaving my room I say a quick prayer,

             “God, please, please, please don’t let me break any bones today. Amen.”

As we pile into our rented bus we realize how much personal space we don’t have …but that’s all part of the adventure. Its 8am, off we go.

I try to sleep on the bus ride, but it is literally impossible. With terrible roads and drivers, there was no way I could keep my eyes closed. As I listen to my music and peer out the window I see the busy surrounding city begin to fade. I felt as if I was driving in Texas….except things were green and not brown. With the “familiarity” of the area I almost felt like I was at home…this feeling did not last long. After driving for some time we all of a sudden pulled over. A policeman arrives at the window and orders the driver out of the car. At this point my nerves were shaken. The police walk around the bus, looking as if they were not going to let us continue.  Then I saw something I have never seen done at home.  The driver and his partners jump out of the bus to pay off the police officer. After some time of talking, and enough money, the police let us continue on our way.

I could not believe that had happened to us. The police pulled us over for no crime, just to get money. After I calmed down and we continued driving I thought that the rest of the trip would be easy going. Wrong. We drove into a crowded town filled with street side vendors and busy people. All of a sudden I hear something hit our bus on the side I was sitting on, and red fly into the air. We hit a biker. Everyone in the bus had a unanimous look of shock and fear on our faces. I could not believe we just hit a man with our bus. I was too scared to look behind me, too frightened to speak. I wanted to cry, I wanted to move and help, but I was frozen with terror.

Finally, after what had seemed to be ages of silence, somebody realizes that the biker was perfectly fine and had run away. After hearing this news I wanted to have a praise break! I could not believe the biker had absolutely nothing wrong with him!! Though everything was okay, matters had to be settled, so we were stuck sitting in the bus until everything was worked out.

Back home, in a situation such as this, we would call the police, file a report, exchange insurance, be confronted by the ambulance, and be on our way. Well…things did not go quite in this order. There were no police to help. There was no way to file a report, and there was definitely no insurance company receiving our claim. It was our bus against an entire town of people. For a lengthy period of time the crowd talked about whose fault it was: biker vs. bus. During this time I witnessed the following:

1.       A man walking around with an ax trying to talk to us

2.       A teenage boy singing Justin Bieber’s “Baby” song perfectly

3.       A drunk man talking about visiting our houses in America

4.       An old woman with a machete attempting to talk to a friend in the bus

5.       A young man that got hit by a bus going at least 40-50 miles an hour walking around as if he was never hit: a miracle.

Finally, we were allowed to leave this area of adventure and continue on our journey, with a few stops in between. After our long ride we arrived to our destination: Mt. Kilimanjaro. Due to the rain, we could not see the mountain very well, so I did not get pictures. However, we did visit another waterfall and the Chagga village, climb into a cave, see some adorable kids, and visit the Kilimanjaro gift shop.

On our way down to see the waterfall I was very careful to not fall. Success. The railing was made of bamboo in order to not fall. It was amazing to see people use the resources around them to build and survive.

After finally reaching the waterfall I was just glad to not be hurt in any way. The group wanted to get a closer look at the waterfall, however I declined. I decided that because it was cold I did not want to take my chances and get wet. I was content sitting on a bench and waiting for the group. After everyone was gone, the drivers of the bus made me go see the waterfall. They said it would be a sight that I wouldn’t regret. I had no way out of their urgencies. As I am on the path, hopping rocks on the river, I got to a part in the river that I knew had the potential to take me down. Here is the dialogue of the next 35 seconds:

Bus Driver: It’s okay, jump! I’ve got you!

Taylor: Uhhhhh, that looks REALLY slippery. I don’t think you’ve got me!

Bus Driver: (rolls eyes) Yes, yes, yes, you’re fine! Come on!

Taylor: Uhhhh…fine. (uncertainty building inside)

*Taylor leaps from her rock of safety into the arms of the bus driver…..then feel his arms not catch her, and the water engulf her. After Taylor falls into the water, the bus driver grabs her arms, falling into the water as well.*

I don’t think I need to explain any further about how bitter and angry I became in a short 35 seconds….  And sure, the waterfall was sort of cool. My drenched skirt may have ruined its “majesty” for the 2 seconds that I looked at it.

After the waterfall we hiked back up the slippery slope to visit the exhibit of the Chagga village life. We sat inside the smallest hut I have ever seen, saw the weapons and ways of the tribe, and were on our way. 

Amongst the adventures of the day I also had to use a squat toilet to use the restroom. For those of you who have no idea what that is let me enlighten you. It’s a hole in the ground. No toilet, no water, no comfortable toilet paper, just a hole in the ground where you squat. Let me just say that I am not a pro at squatting. I had a difficult time doing this, and I have never appreciated a toilet seat so much.

After our visit to the gift shop we were on our way back home…or so I thought. We had to find a shop to get our bus repaired after the accident, and wait for the biker to come and bring money. Quite a bit of the day consisted of waiting. On our drive back we got stopped by the police yet again, and paid the crooked cops off yet again. However, despite all of these mishaps I had so much fun. On the ride back I taught my friend Tosh how to play rock, paper, scissors, starring eye contest, we arm wrestled, and had foreign language lessons for one another. It was interesting and fun learning from someone of a completely different culture, especially with the language barrier between us. 

Life is truly an adventure, and while in Africa I am trying to make the most of it. Though the day did not go “as planned”, what does in life? I am not a creature of change, therefore this trip is helping me to grow and experience different things. I am learning to go with the flow, and that I am really not in control. I’m letting go. I’m surrendering. To end this long blog post I leave you with my favorite quote by Erwin McManus:

                 

      "To live a life that takes your breath away, you have to be willing to get winded."

xx

Cradle of Love

"There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread." 

-Mother Teresa

 They say that love makes the world go around; no matter how bad things can be….I have been thinking about this one for a while. As I type this message my heart is pounding. I would like to be transparent with you and let you walk into my life for the few minutes you will be reading this. This year has been the best, yet, hardest year of my life thus far. I have had many, many good times. I met new people and became very close to them, yet lost some great things in my life. God’s timing really is perfect. I was hurt this semester, and it came by surprise. I felt as if I had lost a part of my heart, or more like it had been ripped away from me, and I wasn’t ready for that. I was confused on what love was. How can people take love, this gift that we search for in life, and hurt someone with it? After many weeks of thinking, frustration, and silence, I got on my knees and had to pray to God. I was desperate for God to intervene in my life and show me His love. More than ever, at that moment, I knew that God’s love is not like any love of this world. It is endless, and truly pure. His love is perfect….   

I yelled out loud to God,

“I don’t care about anything else right now, I need you right away!!!”

With tears streaming down my face, my knees buried in the carpet, I sat in silence. There was nothing more important to me at that moment. Peace surrounded me, and love wrapped me in His arms….

Now, let’s fast forward to this past Friday, June 17^th. A few other girls and I from the study abroad group visited an orphanage to volunteer. Prior to this visit, I had never been around an orphanage of any sort, let alone a group of children. With that said, I did not know what to expect. Well, scratch that. I had the assumption that the orphanage would be what we have all seen on t.v. about the kids in Africa: starving children with flies attacking them. Thankfully, this was not the case.

As we pulled up to the orphanage, I was amazed at how beautiful it was. We were greeted by Davona Church, director of the Cradle of Love orphanage. 

At the time of our arrival the toddlers had just woken up. As soon as they saw our group they came running to greet us. I’ve never seen a child so excited. They were beautiful children who didn’t realize the reality of their situation. They appeared to be helpless, but they weren’t. Love was holding them.

As we continued on our tour of the orphanage we got to see more of the kids, and met the daughters of the director. I believe the youngest was named Mariah, and she was so very precious. This little girl was about 4 or 5 years old and was taking care of all the children. She knew all 48 names and treated them each with such care. I have never, ever seen a child care for anything like this little girl did. It was truly amazing. It touched my heart when I saw her wipe the tears off of a little boys’ face and calmed him.

               

“Why are you crying?” she said, “Its okay. Everything will be okay…”

Love, it’s a gift to us. I will never understand how a parent can love their child, and then abandon them. Maybe there was no love there at all. I will never understand God’s love for us; graceful, merciful, beautiful. But I do know one thing. Love does exist, and it is alive and working.  I saw love at the orphanage. I saw love manifest itself amongst a group of toddlers, each caring for one another. No matter how big or how small, love abides. No matter how weak we are, the heart of love still beats, giving us hope.  

xx

First Adventure: Climing to Mt. Meru

You have powers you never dreamed of. You can do things you never thought you could do. There are no limitations in what you can do except the limitations of your own mind.”

    -   Darwin P. Kingsley

Camping, hiking, and amusement parks are three things that I do not do…ever. It was no surprise to me that the first major adventure that everyone wanted to take while in Arusha was a hiking trip. After much thought, and a pro’s and con’s list, I decided to join everyone on a hike to Mt. Meru. I woke up early, threw some clothes on, and thought I was ready to go. I had hiked once before in my life during Girl Scouts, so naturally I didn’t think this hike could be too bad. Wrong. I didn’t consider the fact that Girl Scouts were not hiking new terrain in Africa…and I’m not a 7 year old girl.

As we walked along our trail we met up with our guides Baraca and Tosh. These guys are pretty cool and new friends of mine.

I was beginning to enjoy the outside weather, the beautiful sun, the green, green grass…..and then the walk got a bit rough. Slowly but surely the gorgeous flat land began to take a major change that I was not prepared for. With great difficulty I continued to climb up the slope. I could not give up.

We were no longer near the city, but instead surrounded by fields of green and villages. It was so amazing to see people who had everything they needed within the confines of their land. As an American, or product of Western civilization, I can’t imagine my life without my iPhone, laptop, car, hot shower, etc. However, these people lived without all of these “necessities” in life. Part of what I am learning here in my classes is the right to development in human rights. Who are we to say that a country and its people “need” all that the industrialized world has to offer? Anyway…that topic is for a later post. 

It took quite some time for us to reach our destination: the waterfalls. I had never seen a waterfall before so I was quite thrilled about his. However, getting from point A to point B was not very easy. Along the way I slipped in mud, was basically carried up and down the hill by Tosh, was bit by ants, and got my ankle caught between a rock. The ants here in Arusha are worse than the red ants in Texas. These ants will swarm you, climb up your leg, and then simultaneously bite your vital parts. Thank the Lord I only got bit by one!!! Anyway….it was amazing to see such beautiful nature.

While hiking we heard the wind blow through the trees, it sounded like rushing water. It takes one word to describe this: incredible. After hopping from rock to rock through valleys, and climbing through small spaces, we reached the waterfall. It was so, so beautiful. The whole time I was there I was just waiting for the water to be turned off, like we were at some sort of park. 

Four of the girls in our group decided to run under the waterfall, which was freezing…. I however declined.

 At this point I wanted to get a picture next to the waterfall….big mistake. I tried to climb up a slippery boulder with Tosh…and then completely fell down the rock. Keds + hiking do NOT go together. As I fell I took Tosh down with me, but he was a good sport and continued to help me. I unfortunately did not get my picture.

Along the way back we stopped to get refreshments at the side of the village road. It was crazy to see the children run away from us when we sat down because they had never seen white people before. I would have never seen that culture shock coming! While the children had their first white experience, many of the villagers thought I was a local Tanzanian and were speaking to me in Swahili. I only know two phrases that everyone here responds well to. Hello and how are you go a long way no matter where you are in the world. 

The kids that were around us had never seen a camera before, so, they were thrilled to see themselves in a still shot. One of the kids was a clever little con-artist. When we wanted to take his picture he said “money”….we didn’t want his picture that badly.

Though I had bruises and a sore body, the hike was so very worth everything. I guess I do enjoy a good challenge. I enjoy nature for what it is. I hope my pictures reveal that. I can’t imagine hiking up a mountain to get home. The villagers have to do that every single day…wow. These wonderful people are fine just the way they are and can teach the world something. I truly learned from a simple hike.

I know I am only 20 and haven’t had crazy experiences in life, but I wish to inspire at least one person with my writing while being abroad. I didn’t think I could climb Mt. Meru, but I made it to the waterfall. I never thought I would be able to make it to Africa, but I’m here. God asked me a few years ago to write down my dreams, and to make them big…so I did. Today, I need to dream bigger because these dreams are becoming a reality. You can do anything…really. The world is at your fingertips. Reach for the stars; you never know when you might catch one.

xx