As a work colleague of Kirsty’s, I first learned about the girl’s situation at the beginning of the year. After a couple of lunchtime chats talking about the girls, and Kirsty sharing her passion for Sierra Leone, I was equally concerned about them and inspired by Kirsty’s determination to do something. I couldn’t wait to get involved.

Fast forward nearly six months and many meetings later, and I was anxiously getting ready to embark on our first fundraiser, a nine-day trek up Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa and the tallest free-standing mountain in the world. Having grown up in Vancouver, Canada (the epitome of West Coast ‘outdoor-ism’ where almost everyone hikes and does yoga), I was accustomed to backpacking and had been accompanying my dad on a few of his bucket-list hikes around the world for the past couple of years. However, Kili being the longest, and by far the highest, mountain I’d ever climbed, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Nonetheless, with our giant duffle bags and seemingly-overkill number of fleeces, we set out for the airport and headed to Tanzania.

My dad and I arrived in Moshi a couple of days ahead of the hike so we had some time to explore, and learn about the local culture and history of Mount Kilimanjaro. On our second day, we gathered with the rest of our group (eight of us in total) to meet our guides and go through a safety briefing. Discussing the oxygen tank, stretcher and portable altitude chamber that would be accompanying us up the mountain, suddenly made it very real! Excited to finally get started though, we were all looking forward to the next day.

Day 1: All packed and ready to go, we piled into a couple of SUV’s that dropped us off at the park gate where we would start. There are a variety of routes to climb the mountain, depending on how long you want to be (shortest is about 5 days, but it has a lower success rate due to increased risk of altitude sickness). Starting at Lemosho Gate, we met our crew for the first time – more than 30 young men who would carry the majority of our equipment, whilst practically running up the mountain and kindly advising us to climb ’pole, pole’ (slowly, slowly).

By the time we started out, it was early afternoon so it was just a short few hour’s hike through the beautiful rainforest to our campsite. Spotting the black and white Colobus monkeys jumping in the trees and running through the campsite was definitely a highlight!

Day 2: Waking up to a gigantic breakfast, we were encouraged to eat as much as we could at all times to ensure we’d have enough energy in case we lost our appetite/got sick with the altitude. Following breakfast, we packed up our tents and set off for the Shira Plateau, part of Kilimanjaro’s third volcanic cone. As we started to climb above the tree line, the vegetation changed to smaller shrubs and the temperature quickly started to drop. We set up camp at just over 3600m in elevation.

Days 3-6: The next few days were focused on acclimatisation, following the mountaineers’ adage of hiking ‘high’ during the day and sleeping ‘low’ at night to help our bodies adjust to the high altitude. As someone who’s affected by altitude, this was definitely critical to helping me summit. Twice a day, our guides would check our pulse, breathing and blood-oxygen levels, whilst we adjusted to walking incredibly slowly, taking ‘sugar breaks’ hourly and not refusing help with even the smallest of tasks. Unfortunately though, one of our team members was forced to descend early due to fluid on his lungs and we witnessed about a dozen helicopter evacuations of other climbers throughout the week.

Despite this, everyone was in high spirits as we had great weather and spectacular views of Kibo, the highest of Kili’s volcanic cones and the one we’d be summiting. Hiking through old lava flows and climbing Barranco Wall, we found ourselves perched high above the blur of Moshi and Arusha, whilst at night, under a clear sky of beautiful constellations. Most days, we reached our campsite in time to unpack and get ready for dinner, but on Day 5, we arrived early enough to be treated to a bucket shower! Overjoyed to wash off days-worth of dirt, this buoyed us for the final push to the top.

Day 7: Summit Day. At 5:30am, bundled in layers of long underwear, fleece and a heavy winter jacket with our headlamps to guide the way, we set off for the summit. Gaining over 1300m, we watched the sunrise over Mawenzi, Kilimanjaro’s second volcanic cone, and overlooked dramatic views of the rugged mountain scape.

Finally, after pushing through symptoms of altitude sickness and trudging through a snowstorm (-15°C!), we made it to the summit at an impressive 5,895m! It was an incredible moment of joy at the top as our guides sang and danced, and we celebrated together.

We returned to base camp that night, tired after our 13-hour journey, but proud (and relieved!) to have made our goal.

Day 8-9: Waking up on Day 8, it was hard to believe that it was time to go down! I had become accustomed to sleeping in my fleece jacket and toque, with my hot water-filled water bottle keeping me warm, but I was also looking forward to the comforts of home. The last couple of days went by quickly as we said goodbye to the alpine desert and hiked back down through the heather and rainforest.

As we exited through Mweka Gate, I took a moment to reflect on the once-in-a-lifetime experience and all of you who not only encouraged me, but also supported my climb by donating to the AdAmi Project. I’m incredibly grateful to all of you and proud to share that together, we raised £1,350. These funds have been put toward project start-up costs, scholarships for the girls return to school and our new childcare scheme.

As they say in Sierra Leone, tenki tenki and I look forward to sharing more updates soon,

Emily