Day 10 : Final Day in Arusha

JOURNAL ENTRY

After 7 days on the mountain and getting some rest on the 8th, we got a day to see Arusha and celebrate the journey we had taken together, the relationships created, lessons learned, and most of all appreciate the connections created over the past couple of days.
On Day 9 we looked back, reflected and shared of the each of our experiences, we got to hear the different lessons learned, the moments experienced, and the reflections made on the mountain for each person that had set foot on the mountain.

This day became the culmination of how the journey that made us all brothers had grown to be our families with 17 more men with whom we had pushed forward with and endured together on that mountain, and the story of the numerous other people who worked served us tirelessly on the mountain. This was the day we were no longer on the mountain but interacting with everyone else and not just those we had shared the experience with. This was the first proper experience we had with what the journey up had made of the band of brothers who summited Kilimanjaro. The mountain was a great experience, but as someone had said, we don’t stay on the mountain we have to come back.

The day started as most days at the hotel do with the breakfast buffet, chats, packing up, and sorting out what I would be carrying home versus what was going to be given away. We agreed to meet at one pm to to have lunch wherever we were going and the days journeys began.  The first place was through a coffee farm to where it was processed and packaged. At this farm I was equally amazed with the early 1960’s truck at use on the farm as I was with the process the coffee goes through.  After this we visited a flea market next to the Arusha Art Gallery and this was an opportunity to appreciate African art and crafts, which is something I have done once or twice in my life, and this sparked an appreciation to art.

Later in the afternoon we visited a Young Life Club organized by some of the DGL alumni and DGL students. Seeing young life leaders loving on kids and going the extra mile to serve and create an environment to share the Gospel of Christ was quite an experience, and even though I could not pick up much of the Swahili, the heart of a Young Life Club is definitely the same for young life everywhere. This melted my heart seeing kids having a great time and hearing the gospel and responding to it. This reminded me of why everyone of us kept going and kept sharing our stories on that mountain; to ensure that the ultimate story of Christ who loved us so much and gave his life for us could continue being shared in Africa, through the DGL students who graduate from colleges to be leaders of integrity and also through leaders in the mission field waking up and putting one step in front of the other to reach kids for Jesus.

The thought of hiking to 19340ft was a faraway concept and an almost scary thought but the fear kept creeping away with every interaction I had with the team of men that I now call brothers. A journey of 55 miles covered by putting one foot in front of the other.

~ Mphatso or “M-po” 

(Young Life Staff in Malawi)