Day 7: Climb to Kosovo Camp

MOUNTAIN ROUTE OVERVIEW

As our climbers near the summit, they have another short day for acclimatization today. After breakfast, climbers leave Karanga Camp and make their way across moraine with a view of Mawenzi and Kibo to Barafu. The alpine desert terrain is full of boulders with lichen and moss. Upon reaching camp, climbers will spend the afternoon resting before packing for the summit and having an early dinner in preparation for their ascent to the summit to start at midnight. Summit begins at 5 PM EST!

MOUNTAIN ROUTE STATS

Starting elevation 13,300 feet

Ending elevation 15,400 feet

Elevation gain 2,100 feet

Distance hiked 3 miles

Average hiking time 4 to 5 hours

There is so much to say about our Kilimanjaro experience that it is hard to know exactly where to start. So I will start where we ended our conversation at dinner last night.

Drew referred back to a word that Papa Deo had spoken to our group before we started our journey. The word was, ‘Uhuru’, which means ‘Freedom’ in Swahili. Uhuru also happens to be the name of the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. It is beautiful to know that we have all been climbing together toward ‘freedom’. It is now closer then ever, and with God’s grace we will soon reach it.

So, with that as the backdrop, Drew posed a question to the group, and a very important one at that. He asked each of us to really think about what freedom in our lives looks like. What does it mean for us to truly be ‘set free’?

Lauren added that sometimes it is only after our comforts and life as we have known it have been stripped away, that things can begin to ‘come to the surface’. Things that have been keeping us from living in and experiencing true freedom. This is something we should lean into and embrace as it begins to happen.

Ash ended the evening by saying that sometimes we are not only being set free ‘from’ something, but we are also being set free ‘for’ something. Freedom is an ‘arrow that points both ways’. How true that is.

This morning, before we started out on our hike to reach Camp Kosovo, Ash shared a morning devotional, as he does every morning. These are such rich and special moments. He continued our freedom anthem when he talked about the final words that Christ spoke after being crucified on the cross, “It is finished”. He shared that although maybe not theologically sound, he said these words essentially mean ‘freedom’. Christ died so that we can be set free FROM living in bondage as slaves, and set free FOR living in the freedom of abundance. Praise you Jesus, Thank you Jesus!

The rallying cry of day 5, and perhaps our whole journey, has been freedom. So, what does it mean for each of us to be set free? My hope and prayer is that it becomes as clear to us as a summit day without a cloud in sight.

Uhuru! Uhuru!

Journal Entry by Zac Long