Asim & Tamreez

Our first sight of Kili from the plane

I call it the best because we really enjoyed ourselves and I am so proud of us for accomplishing something so extraordinary. I’ve always been a bit of a weakling so even I find it hard to believe that I actually did it. My sisters later told me they were quite surprised we reached the top! Ha, so there!

Our amazing group

For Asim and I, it was our first experience camping outdoors. Apart from the first night when I could barely sleep because of all the noises and sounds, we got the hang of it (in my case, it was earplugs leant to me that made all the difference!). Going without showering and even washing my face for a week was the not-so-nice part about camping, however, it was still impressive how comfortable our stay was made for us by the huge team of porters and guides (above 60 of them for 30 of us!) looking after our team. While we would be huffing and puffing carrying our 3-5 kg bags, the porters would be carrying over 30 kgs each and rushing along before us to set up camp and cook a hot meal before we would even get there. And after we had moved on in the morning, they would take down the tents, wash and clean all the dishes and equipment, move on to the next campsite and repeat the same process. If that wasn’t impressive enough, they would be singing and dancing in the mornings in high spirits! Absolutely incredible! Let’s not forget that these aren’t people born with super human strength but to earn a living under harsh conditions they’ve been made almost superhuman.

Kili porters live a tough life

Talking to the porters one on one, almost all of them would admit that their first couple of trips up the mountain, they had been literally crying because they found it so hard. In recent years, laws have been introduced that protect a porter from carrying more than 30 kgs. All of us had been instructed to make sure our bags for the porters weren’t more than 15 kgs each but they were a bit lax about a few extra kgs. Also, the guides had to make sure that the porters were getting enough to eat and were properly dressed. But ours was one of the big and reputed companies in Tanzania, I wonder if other companies took such care of their porters. I also compared their condition to the porters in Pakistan who accompany K2 climbers. I’ve read accounts of them carrying up to 75kgs and I’m not aware if there are laws protecting them or how stringently these are enforced. On our last day, a group of porters was passing us by and one of them said something to which everyone laughed heartily. I asked our guide to translate and the porter had said “If only I’d gone to school, I wouldn’t have to do this today!” That makes me wonder if such expeditions should be allowed to everyone or only to those who are strong enough to carry their stuff themselves and the porters should only carry the equipment and their own stuff. But I have to remind myself that for many porters and especially guides, this is still very lucrative employment and many in the country are able to raise their standard of living because of it. At the end of the trip, our group was more than happy to give a tip of $100 each which was equally divided amongst the porters. They more than deserved it!

Our camping was made as comfortable as possible by the wonderful porters

It was a never ending hike!

Suffering from altitude sickness-- what a happy camper!

At lunch break, we were finally reunited with our group and even though after lunch I was feeling just as bad, I was able to continue because I had joined the others and found out that some of them were feeling just as bad. When we finally made our way into camp about an hour later than others from our group (we’d been split into smaller groups to let the faster ones reach earlier), Hina and Rameez came up with a brilliant idea to not let the others feel any superiority over us (yes, we were a bunch of kids!). We put sublock on our faces like war paint and marched into camp singing and hooting! The whole camp came out to see what was going on and the porters joined us singing and dancing! It ended what had been otherwise an awful day on a really good note!

Ending day 3 on a positive note

Women describing labour pains say that it is the most terrible thing they have ever experienced and while they are going through it, they vow to themselves (and scream to others around them, mostly husbands) that they will never again do it again. But the joy of having a baby, the fruit of their labour, makes them forget the ordeal and before they know it, they’re having another one. Summit night for me was exactly like that. Not that I see myself climbing Kilimanjaro any time soon, but I will not lie and say that the idea has not crossed my mind! In writing this I’m trying to remember the whole thing in its entirety and what I can remember is climbing for eight hours of below freezing temperatures, scared of suffering from hypothermia and frostbite.

On top of Kili

Of course the thing that made the trip absolutely worthwhile was the fact that we not only raised a lot of funds for FTCF we also raised awareness about the organization and many people who had never heard of The Citizens Foundation got to hear about it and open-heartedly supported the cause. Our combined group total was almost £80,000! This amount is enough to run 9 schools for a year, effective educating approximately 1350 students belonging to some of the most underprivileged families in the country! For us, it is a source of great pride and inspiration that so many dedicated people within Pakistan and abroad, whether Pakistanis or not, are so committed to the cause of educating the poor in Pakistan. It renews my hope for the country’s future, which to be honest, seems quite bleak at the moment so every positive effort and achievement needs to be cherished and celebrated. Our group raised the flag of Pakistan on Kilimanjaro and offered a ray of hope to it’s next generation. Today as we celebrate Iqbal Day, the 9th of November, here’s one achievement that I hope will make all of us proud of being Pakistanis!

Pakistan Zindabad!